


To Cast a Spell, Enslaves the Heart

by heartsns



Category: Howl no Ugoku Shiro | Howl's Moving Castle, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, Alternate Universe - Magic, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Seduction, Boy Love, Fluff and Angst, Gay Male Character, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Naruto bottom, Sasuke top, Seme Uchiha Sasuke, Spells & Enchantments, Stalker, Uke Uzumaki Naruto, Verbal Abuse, Witches, Wizard Sasuke, Wizards, old man Naruto, sex? maybe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:27:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 49,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24993061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsns/pseuds/heartsns
Summary: Naruto leads a thankless life, in a thankless job in a shop where the owner took him off the streets as a child.  His life changes when he unexpectedly befriends a wizard, Sasuke who lives in a magic moving castle.  However, a jealous witch does not approve of their relationship and casts a spell on the young Naruto, which ages him prematurely.In spirit of Studio Ghibli, this story is based on the book and movie, Howl's Moving Castle.More tags will be added as the story progresses.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 113
Kudos: 151
Collections: Amazing never forget





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ahans1b](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahans1b/gifts).



> Seriously, I was watching it and I thought, why can't this be Sasuke and Naruto instead? 
> 
> Special thanks to ahans1b for giving me a poke and encouraging this writing, and being a reviewer of what I had produced so far. I'm blessed to have you as a friend. :)  
> PS..read her work, I just love it!

The smaller blond male slowly stitched at the tattered shoes while sitting at a dusty wooden desk in a small room. The desk had various shoe repair items littered upon it; such as scraps of leather, laces and thread, and various sized shoes piled on the far end. Large blue eyes focused on the needle going in and out of the leather, a pink tongue pointed slightly out as the boy appeared to be focusing hard on the task.

“Naruto! Hurry your ass up in there, the customer will be here any moment!” A deep voice bellowed from behind the closed wooden door.

“Yes sir,” the blond named Naruto called back as he bit off the final bit of thread and placed the shoe in a box. “There, hopefully those will hold for the old man.” Naruto placed the lid on the cardboard box and headed out of the room.

“’Bout fucking time boy,” the gruff looking man spat out at Naruto as he grabbed the shoe box from his arms. He opened the lid, pulled a shoe out and looked it over. “You better fucking hope that the old fart likes your shit work boy.” The man slammed the box on the counter and pushed Naruto back behind him when the sound of a bell signified that someone had come through the shops door. “Now get your ass back to work,” the man lifted his leg and kicked at Naruto, catching Naruto in the shin.

Naruto grit his teeth at the sudden pain but made his way behind the curtain silently, heading back to his room. He frowned as he listened to his boss talk politely to the customer that came in. He sighed loudly and picked up his tools, ready to repair another pair of shoes.

“Naruto! Get the fuck out here for a delivery!” The voice demanded through the wooden door some time later.

Naruto rolled his eyes and placed his equipment down on the bench, grabbed a bag and headed out. Every day was the same old shit from his boss. _‘Naruto you fucker do this, Naruto you little shit, worthless, lazy, good for nothing…’_ Naruto sighed quickly as he slipped through the wooden door and went to get the delivery.

“Take your worthless ass to the bakery to deliver these shoes to the owner. This is her special request and _don’t fuck it up!_ ” He spit in Naruto’s face when he shoved the round box into Naruto’s arms. Naruto eyed the box, it was round with stripes with a bow on the top. Obvious women’s shoe box. “Go straight there and come straight back. Don’t fucking fuck around, or else those man eating wizards and witches will snatch ya up!!” The man chuckled darkly as he lit a cigarette. “Though maybe you have nothing to worry about, you’re so fucking ugly, and I hear them wizards and witches only want pretty little things.” He then started laughing wildly. “What the fuck you waiting for, hurry your ass up!!” He then shoved Naruto’s chest, causing the boy to stumble back and smash his tailbone into the counter.

Naruto whimpered out from the pain but didn’t voice it out. He knew better. His boss didn’t care about his pain and would only enjoy giving him more. Naruto shoved the box into his bag and limped quickly out the door. “If your fucking late getting back, you know you’ll be stuck sleeping outside ya shit!” Naruto heard his boss call at his back as he made his way down the cobbled streets. Yes, he knew. If he didn’t make it back before the shop closed, his boss had no qualms locking him out. No matter how much he banged on the door, his boss didn’t give a shit.

Naruto wandered down the streets, his mind thinking about his life. His life was living and working at the cobbler shop. The old cobbler found him in the back alley, going through his garbage looking for food. The old cobbler offered food for work, and Naruto, being about probably around 8 years of age accepted, as he knew nothing else but being cold and hungry all the fucking time. At first it wasn’t too bad, the old man taught him how to clean up around the shoe shop, fed him, allowed him to get clean, gave him a place to sleep and some hand me down old clothes. When he got knowledgeable with cleaning and cooking, the old cobbler began to teach him how to fix shoes. Life was good, but Naruto was never allowed to call him anything but ‘boss’.

It was when he got older, probably around 15 years old, that boss started getting angry. The women that would come into the shop would talk all the time with Naruto. They were laughing, giggling and Naruto enjoyed the company. But boss didn’t appear to like that and started having Naruto work in the back. Naruto no longer got hand me downs, wasn’t allowed in the kitchen anymore and boss would just give him scraps. Boss started becoming more pushy and screamed at him more about how Naruto was a man at now 17 years and should be able to take a beating. Naruto’s mind was a fog of memories and questions as he continued down the way. He bumped into someone, mumbled out sorry and made his way around the person.

“I don’t think so little one,” a voice purred out as Naruto found someone had grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

Naruto finally looked up and found that he wasn’t on the road he was supposed to be. He must have taken a wrong turn while he was daydreaming. He was now currently between the buildings in a narrow passage that were often hang outs for dealers, night ladies and just unsavory characters.. _‘Idiot! What the fuck were you thinking!?’_ Naruto berated himself mentally as he looked up into the eyes of the voice. An older man with thick shaggy brown hair, thick brows and large nose was eyeing Naruto up and down, licking his lips at the same time.

“You look lost little one, how would you like for me to show you the way?” The tall brown haired man hissed out in a breath, pulling Naruto in against his chest.

Naruto stiffened as his face was smacked into the chest of the taller man. Naruto could smell the sweat and his nose wrinkled in disgust. The jacket the man wore was dusty and of worn leather that Naruto could smell the old rotting cow hide.The creep was a good head taller than Naruto and had a strong grip on him. Naruto tried to pull back and was not surprised to find this creep held him hard and fast against his chest. “N-No I’m not lost, let me pass please,” Naruto’s voice quivered slightly as he tried to sound confident. He raised his fists to the chest trying to get away from the shaggy haired sweaty stink of a man.

“Aw you’re scaring the little mouse. Can’t have that.” Another voice came up from behind Naruto. “What’s the matter little mouse, is this big bad bully bothering you? Should I save you?” The voice whispered out from behind Naruto’s ear. Naruto could feel another hard massive body pressing up behind him. Another streak of fear went through him as he found himself pinned between two large men that promised nothing good was to come out of this situation.

“Leave him alone,” the shaggy man holding Naruto hissed out in a non threatening way. “This little one was agreeing to go have a drink with me and not you,” the creep snickered slightly as he brought his hand down and patted Naruto’s bottom. “Mmm, this has a nice feel to it.” 

“N-no please sirs, I’m very late and I am expected. I need to—”Naruto stuttered out again, trying not to vomit as the man violated him. He struggled to get out from between the two men that currently held him captive in the small alley. He looked elsewhere for help, there had to be someone seeing this! The opening that led to the bright busy street was meters away, too far for anyone to see down into the shadows of the narrow passage. Naruto’s hope dropped hard and fast as he realized he was about to become the victim to the two men, and that no one would even look twice at a nobody like him.

A sudden strong breeze developed and blew between the men that ruffled their hair and was so ice cold it had Naruto suddenly shivering. 

“There are you darling, so sorry I’m late.” A deep baritone voice pierced through the shadows and startled the two large men holding the smaller blond. Naruto gasped out and twisted his head to the sound of the voice, seeing deep dark pool almond eyes focused straight on him. Blue black hair fell around those eyes and framed a sculpted face and firm jaw. Naruto’s eyes took in the broad frame of the young man who appeared. He was wearing a deep blue shirt under a dark blazer, dark slacks, knee high boots and a cape. The man was dressed as an older high ranked gentleman would be, but his face showed that he was probably no more than 20 years of age. A small smirk appeared on his lips when he moved smoothly towards Naruto, slipping his arm around him and easily pulled Naruto out from between the two other men so quickly, Naruto clutched at this man’s shirt so he wouldn’t collapse. “Sorry gentlemen, but he is with me,” the deep voice growled out and clutched Naruto close to his own body, his cape slightly covering the blond. A sudden strong feeling of safety and warmth flowed over Naruto when this man pulled and held him so close.

The shaggy brown haired man growled out, “who the fuck do you think you are? Blue eyes was coming with us, so piss off!” The man tried to reach out for Naruto but was frozen mid step.

“Nope, I do believe you two were leaving,” the blue black haired man responded and gave a snap of his fingers. Naruto’s eyes widened as he watched the other two men suddenly stand up straight as if they were puppets, their hands slammed ridged to their sides and both turned to start marching away from them, obviously against their will. And all the while they were yelling out profanities and how they were going to get the man. A deep chuckle rose from the raven haired man. “There we go. They won’t be of bother anymore.” He then turned to look down at Naruto. “Are you alright?” he asked while cupping Naruto’s chin to have him look up at him.

Naruto nodded silently as he felt pulled into the deep ebony eyes of his saviour. His mouth was held open as he tried to find words to say, but nothing came out. His hand continued to clutch desperately to this man’s front jacket as if fearful to let go.

The man returned a soft smile at Naruto. “Well then, I’m sorry to rush you, but we need to get going.” The man turned the both of them and started to walk down the narrow cobbled lane. “I don’t want to alarm you, but we are being followed.”

Naruto gasped out in surprise at the mention. He suddenly felt guilty for holding this beautiful saviour back for his worthless self. “Then let me go. I’m obviously holding you from your successful escape,” he breathed out.

“No good. You are with me and now involved. I’m sorry,” the man responded. “We must hurry.” The man suddenly began to walk faster, pulling Naruto with him.

Naruto looked behind him and could now see black blob figures bouncing between the buildings, dripping out from between the walls, sliding like snakes across the cobblestones and wearing hats like human males would. It was if they were trying to pass as human men, and it would appear that no other persons could see them when they zoomed by. “What are those?!” Naruto whispered out, trying to keep the fear in his voice steady. The black blobs were gaining on them and Naruto pushed down his panic.

“A witch’s henchmen. She has been after me for years.”

Naruto brought his palm up to his hand to cover his scream as he saw several of the black blobs now start rising from the ground and drip from walls of buildings directly in their path. They were trapped!

“Hold on now, we need to run a little bit higher now,” the man whispered to Naruto.

“Higher? Whaaaa—?” Naruto took in a deep breath as he felt his feet leave the ground, the man grabbing hold of his hands and his legs were running but his feet were now hitting the ground! “H-how is this ahhh!!” Naruto couldn’t hold out his screech of surprise. They were both rising rapidly and he noticed that the black haired man holding him was smiling and running alongside with him.

“See you are a natural at this,” the man chuckled into Naruto’s ear as they both continued to run over the roofs of the buildings. Their feet were not touching anything but air but they still moved forward as if they were running on the ground.

Naruto tried to keep his panic grounded, pun not intended, as he continued to run like he was on the ground. He would look towards the ground, seeing the many heads of the people and wonder why they didn’t look up and see them. He looked for the black blobs, but they didn’t seem to be anywhere, so he figured they had lost them. Naruto was broken out of his musings when he heard the baritone voice vibrate softly beside him. “Alright. You did great, we are coming down for a landing now, just keep walking and focus on where we are going.” Naruto felt their descent, he kept walking as instructed and saw they were headed to a balcony. He recognized it as the top floor of the building that the bakery was in.

As they walked onto the balcony, Naruto felt the man’s arms clutch his waist tightly and he was thankful, for his knees buckled and the strong arms pulled him into the man’s chest. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he mumbled out a thank you but couldn’t help but inhale the man’s scent while pulled into his chest. Naruto’s eyes rolled back slightly at the strong wood like smell coming from the dark haired man. He felt the chest vibrate when the man spoke, “are you alright?” Naruto nodded his head once again before pulling away from the strong chest. Naruto looked up into the dark eyes that were expressing concern and gave a small smile. Something came to his mind suddenly and Naruto stood up straight and stepped back slightly away from the dark haired beauty. “Y-you’re a wizard aren’t you?” Naruto cursed his quivering voice but kept his eyes focused on the other man.

Lips smiled and the dark haired man cupped Naruto’s cheek. “Yes and my name is Sasuke. Pleasure.” The small smile that adorned his face left Naruto breathless. “You should be safe now and I need to be going. You will be alright on your own now?” Sasuke raised his one eye brow at Naruto.

Naruto shook his head slightly. “Y-yes thank you. This is where I need to be,” he grinned and held up his delivery.

“Very good. Be safe now,” Sasuke stepped back and turned to stand on the ledge of the balcony. With a slight jump, he stretched his arms and leaped off. Naruto gave a little shriek and ran to the edge of the balcony. When he looked over, there was no sign of Sasuke, only the busy bustle of people on the street below. Naruto ran his fingers through his hair, let out a sigh and turned to go through the door on the balcony. He had an order to deliver.

==x00x00x00x00x00x==

Naruto quickly slipped into the cobble shop store minutes before the boss was set to close. “’Bout fucking time you got back! I ain’t paying yah to be visitin’ with men and be a slut!” The boss slammed the cash register shut when Naruto came in and locked the door behind him. He kept his eyes down when he turned to face the boss who was stomping towards him. He didn’t so much as make a sound when the boss slapped him hard across his face, which caused him to stumble to the floor. “Now get this place cleaned up you harlot! Be thankful I left you a crust of dinner in your room!” The boss gave Naruto a shove with the bottom of his boot then left the store, slamming the door behind him.

Naruto sniffled slightly as he lifted himself up off the floor and started closing the blinds to the windows. He wiped a few stray tears from his cheeks while he began to sweep the floor. A tingled sound behind him shocked him and he turned, coming face to face with a rather older thick woman with a broad brimmed hat and black dress that covered her body right to the floor.

“S-sorry ma’am, but we are closed. I could swear I locked that door,” Naruto scratched the top of his head. The woman didn’t respond, she just continued to stare at him from beneath the brim of her hat. “Umm, ma’am? We are closed,” Naruto repeated.

“What a horrid ugly thing you are,” a voice cracked out. “What Sasuke sees in your plain ugly self I cannot fathom.” The woman tipped her head back and showed her green eyes that glowed brightly, her lips were up in a snarl and she twirled a short weapon in her fingers. “Let’s see if he likes looking at you after this!” The woman spat out and the weapon began spinning faster than Naruto could see as she waved her other hand around it.

Naruto squinted his eyes against a bright beam of light coming from the woman. He brought up his arm to shield his eyes from the light but a sudden pressure of air pushed against him, forcing him to fold over to keep himself from falling over. The force felt like he was in a gail force wind that was threatening to blow him across the room! He squeaked out as he held his ground and then it just stopped. As quickly as it had started, the light, the crazy wind, was all gone. Naruto kept his head low, his knees and one hand on the floor, waiting and listening.

“The best part of that spell is that you cannot tell anyone about it!” Naruto heard the woman cackle out a laugh and the familiar sound of the door slamming. The maniacal laughter rang in his ears like a fading echo and his body trembled. Once the laughter stopped, only then did Naruto look up to see that the shop was now empty. He jumped up quickly to go lock the door only to find that his body refused the quick movement and instead Naruto found himself falling forward onto the floor. His muscles felt stiff, his joints felt achy and Naruto’s lips couldn’t help but release groans after every movement he tried to get up from off the floor. 

As he moved to get off the floor, he noticed the top of his hands and he released a gasp in horror. “My hands! T-they’re…” Naruto managed to get up and stumbled to a small mirror by the register. His mouth fell open as he brought his hands to his cheeks. The person in the mirror wasn’t him! It couldn’t be him! “AHH! Who—What—Where did I go?!” His hands slapped and pulled at his loose cheeks and he blinked his blue eyes repeatedly. _‘The person in the mirror is doing e-everything I do! But-but… it is me isn’t it?’_ Naruto gripped the edge of the desk as he took in the reflection. Rounder wrinkly face, a few age spots on various areas of his forehead and cheeks, his cheek scars were practically gone because of the skin sagging, his eyebrows were grey and his golden locks were now a full silver. “I-I’m an OLD MAN!” Naruto bit his bottom lip as it began to quiver. He saw his eyes filling up with tears and he clutched the desk harder to stop himself from falling.

After several minutes of calming himself down, he made his way back to his room. Sagging on the bed his mind raced over the day’s events. _‘That witch put a spell on me! But why? What did I ever do to her!?’_ He rolled over, clutching his pillow tight, his tears quietly spilling and a few hiccup sobs escaped. He looked at his aged hands and arms. _‘Sasuke!’_ Naruto had an epiphany. _‘The witch mentioned Sasuke! He will know what to do!’_ Naruto struggled himself up, feeling the ache in his back and legs he let out a groan of discomfort. “Stupid old bones, making it harder to move about.” He began to gather what little articles he had into his small bag and made his way to the small cupboard where the boss kept a couple of food items. He found a loaf of bread and cheese, shoving it in his bag, he knew he couldn’t stay at the cobbler’s shop. The boss would kick him out anyways if he knew Naruto was under an old age spell. He put his bag on the floor by his bed along with his shoes and sweater, ready to go at first light. He slipped under his one blanket, fully clothed and sniffled himself to sleep.

==x00x00x00x00x00x==

The next morning, Naruto made his way out of the town at sunrise. There wasn’t anyone up and about yet, so he was able to make his way far enough from the cobbler shop without anyone seeing him. His destination? The waste lands, where all wizards and witches were known to stay. Under normal circumstances he knew he could walk the days walk, but with his new body, aching and groaning all the while he thought about how he would get to such a distance. As luck would have it, a kind old gentleman with a young boy were on a cart pulling hay and it looked like they were heading out of town. Naruto waved them down, explaining he was heading their way and asked if he could hop on. The elderly gentleman was friendly towards another elderly man and invited him.

Several hours later, Naruto thanked his ride and made his way between farms and headed north. The old man from the cart yelled out to be careful, as he was heading for the waste lands of wizards and witches, and Naruto assured him that he would be. 

It was midday, judging by the sun’s location and Naruto found himself winded and resting on a boulder. He was panting out to catch his breath looking across the horizon. The town was but a twinkle in the horizon and Naruto now wondered where the hell he was supposed to find Sasuke. “Holy shit this is hard work walking at this age,” Naruto mumbled to himself as he wiped his brow with the back of his arm. He looked behind him to the path that he was following. It was on a slight incline. “I don’t know how I’m going to keep going, this hill goes on forever! Well, won’t reach success if I quit now.” He slowly got back onto his feet, his back hands pushing on his lower back as he groaned out loud listening to his back crackle like firewood. He began to take steps up through the path again when a glint in some bushes nearby caught his attention.

“I wonder what that is?” Naruto muttered to nobody and wandered towards the bush. He came across a large stick, sticking out from a bush. “Hm, must have been a rabbit or something,” he talked to himself. “But this thick branch would probably make a good walking stick.” Naruto grabbed at the edge of the stick and pulled. It was stuck hard and barely budged. Grunting out some more, Naruto’s tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he put his weight into pulling. A loud snap was heard and Naruto found himself falling backwards onto his butt. “Ouch! Dammit!” Naruto cursed out while trying to get back onto his feet. He stumbled backwards when the large stick was wiggling on its own and suddenly twitched up and out from the bush. “What the hell?” Naruto shouted out in surprise.

The large stick bounded out and on the other end was a makeshift scarecrow. It stood up straight and bounced slightly while standing straight up. 

“Huh! Well I’ll be. A scarecrow!” Naruto put his hands on his hips, tilting his head up to look at the tall being. The scarecrow had a tattered blazer and two gloves on each ended of the stick, making it look somewhat like a person. It also wore a top hat on top of what looked to be a pumpkin.”You are certainly an interesting scarecrow Mr. Pumpkin,” Naruto chuckled in his deep old man raspy voice. “But, at least you are not stuck anymore, have a good day.” Naruto limped slightly as he turned around and began to make his way up the path again. The scarecrow turned and bounded away down the hill. 

Naruto huffed and puffed as he continued up the hill. _‘Holy hell, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.’_ His legs were hurting, his back was aching and his joints hurt in areas he didn’t know he had. Everytime he wiped his brow, he frowned sadly seeing his aged hands. He heard a tapping behind him and he slowly turned to see Mr. Pumpkin bounding back up the hill. _‘Hmph, show off! So young and able to practically run up this hill,’_ Naruto grumbled out to himself. “What are you doing you pumpkin head? You’re free! Go home! I don’t need any more magic around me thank you very much!” Naruto shook his fist at the scarecrow, then stopped as he realized he was acting just like the old farts that yelled at him. He dropped his fist to his side and sighed when the scarecrow stopped in front of him. His eyes fell upon one of the outstretched stick-hands to see a cane resting on it. “You brought me a cane?” Naruto didn’t know whether he should feel grateful or insulted. _‘Well, I guess i’m an old man now…’_ “Thanks pumpkin head,” Naruto mumbled out as the cane was dropped at his feet. He reached for it, feeling his back ache he let out a loud groan of displeasure. “A cane is great, but a place to stay would be good too. Why couldn’t you find me something like that?” Naruto grumbled out under his breath as he turned, with his new cane, and started making his way up the hill again. “Bye again pumpkin head, thanks for the cane.” He held an arm up but didn’t look back, but heard the scarecrow bounding off in the other direction.

The sun was starting to sleep for the night and Naruto found himself shivering slightly. He had made it to the top of the hill and was walking along the tops of the hill, looking over the horizon. There was nothing to be seen, just wild grass for as far as the eye could see. Even the town he left was no longer in the distance. _‘What am I doing here? What did I think I would find?’_ Naruto found himself getting depressed as he stopped and leaned heavily on his cane. _‘And where will I stay? There is nothing out here! I’ll freeze if I sleep outside!’_ Naruto couldn’t help but sob slightly thinking about the predicament he was in. The sound of machines coming from behind him had him wiping his tears quickly and turning to watch as a massive metal faced contraption began to rise from the hilltop. “What the fu--” Naruto gasped out as his head began to fall back when the metal face grew larger and higher up. Above the face were several small roofs, like tiny houses, each with smoking chimneys. Beneath the face was a variety of closed windows, metal and wood panels that made it look like it was slapped together to form a body under the face. As the body appeared to come up to the top of the hill, there were four large clawed feet beneath it, walking, as if it was going for a stroll!

Naruto’s head fell back so far to look up at the giant creature, he fell onto his ass, his arms stretched behind him and his mouth wide open. He didn’t know if he should be afraid and run, or just curl up and just succumb to being this creature’s meal! He tried to crab walk out of the creature’s way, but his old legs were not what they were and he ended up just falling onto his back instead. “AHH!” Naruto found his voice when the creature came towards him even closer. “I’m going to die! Please don’t eat me! I’m too cute to be dinner!” Naruto found his hands and held them up in a peace offering at the giant creature. 

The creature continued to walk up to Naruto and stepped on either side of his body. Naruto quivered and noticed that he was now under the belly of the beast! The huge talon like legs were on the far side of him and Naruto feared the beast was going to lay down and crush him! He struggled to crawl up onto his legs trying to get out from under the beast. The beast stopped right above Naruto and he heard several hissing sounds like water pressure being released from hundreds of teapots. Naruto stopped moving and looked up and around. The creature had stopped walking and was standing over top him. He slowly got up to his shaky legs, grabbing the cane to steady himself as he stood up straight and took in the site. The beast was made of wood and metal, from what he could see as he looked straight up. The bottom of the beast was still at least a couple meters above him.

A sudden hissing and cranking noise startled him and he turned to see that a large platform tube type contraption was coming out from the belly of the beast. When the steam had cleared, Naruto was shocked to see a step and a perfectly normal shop type door. The door was connected to the tube type platform that led into the belly of the beast. Curious, he tilted his head slightly, his gray hair blowing gently from the breeze coming across the hills and tried to get a better look. The scarecrow jumped from behind the beast and bounded at the door. “Pumpkin head? What the hell is this? You bring this crazy beast here?” Naruto shook his fist again at the scarecrow that had stopped at the door and bounced in place. “What is this?” The scarecrow bounced in place and turned its gloved stick hand back and forth towards the door. “You want me to go in there?” Naruto took small steps towards the door. Naruto thought about it for a moment. It was cold out, he had nowhere else to go and still needed to find Sasuke. He shrugged, “beggars can’t be choosers I guess.” The scarecrow bounded up and down and Naruto hobbled to the door, took the step and put his hand on the doorknob. Giving a look at the scarecrow, he glared at the pumpkin head. “If something in here eats me, I’m coming back to haunt you!” He huffed out a grunt, turned the knob and stepped into the darkness. The beast began to whistle and groan out noises before standing up straight and started to walk again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta says: Good day everyone that had expressed an interest in this story. It has been an interesting challenge to write this up, but I'm up for that... heh
> 
> I'm back to work in my office now, thus being home for 3 months has come and gone, so I don't have much time to write as I would like to, since my commute to work is 1.5 hours one way. Yah yah... i'm whining a little but meh.
> 
> Bear with me as I attempt to make this SN story work, but you know i'm always up for reviews with a little bit of suggestions in them :) 
> 
> As always I'm on tumblr, just look up my handle, I like to find SNS art and stories there, you might find some too! As always, many thanks to ahans1b for being my 2nd pair of eyes to ensure things made sense. Love that little author :)

The area behind the door was dark, but a soft glowing light was in the far corner. As Naruto moved closer to the light, he saw it was but a hint of flame, crackling faintly and gentle. As his eyes began to adjust to the darkness, he saw he was in a type of kitchen or sitting room. He frowned as he noticed that the area was littered with dishes, clothing, papers, boxes, books, everything one could imagine was a clutter everywhere! “What a mess,” Naruto grumbled to himself as he slowly made his way towards the small fireplace. He grabbed a couple logs he found near the fireplace and threw them onto the small flame. 

He found an old kitchen chair and removed all items sitting on it and placing them quietly onto the floor. Pulling the kitchen chair across the floor, he settled it in front of the small flame in the fireplace and took a seat. “Aaahhhh….that’s the stuff. Fuck, I feel old. At least it’s warm in here,” he moaned out as he heard his back and legs creak and crack. He slumped his shoulders and took a deep long exhale as he thought about his situation. The heat coming from the fireplace was nice and his body was so thankful that he wasn’t moving about anymore that it sagged happily. Naruto began to feel drowsy, knowing that he was in a safe warm place, his mind finally began to feel the exhaustion that the day had brought. He closed his eyes, feeling the heat, and thinking that he would just rest them for a moment before he thought of his next move.

“Boy oh boy, that’s a shitty spell you got there,” a voice broke through the darkness. 

Naruto sat up quickly, his blue eyes wide and he peered into the darkness around him. He didn’t see anything, just the small flame crackling in the fireplace. “Anyone there?” his raspy voice called out, his hands reaching for his cane. Might as well be armed if it’s an unfriendly ...umm ... _person?_

“Let me guess, you can’t tell anyone about it?” the voice broke through the darkness again.

“Come out here and show yourself coward!” Naruto barked out suddenly. “I’ve got a weapon! Don’t make me use it!” Naruto’s hands grasped the length of the cane.

“Calm down, calm down now. Name’s Chiyo.” The firelight flickered suddenly when two eyes popped out and stared at Naruto.

Naruto’s mouth fell open and his own eyes took in the fire flame in the fireplace. “You--you’re a fire demon!” Naruto’s gasped out as he took some closer steps towards the flame, his curiosity perked. 

“Yes, at least your mind isn’t dusty and old little punk,” Chiyo sneered out as the wood the flame sat on crackled.

Naruto smacked his lips together in a smile. “Well, you are impressive. Hey! You should be able to break the spell on me right!”

“Phht, why would I help you? I’m nothing more than a prisoner here,” the fire cackled out in response. “Besides, what would you do for me if I help you?”

Naruto tapped his finger on his chin, his eyes looking up as if finding the answer was above. “Hmm, how about set you free?”

“I’m bound to Sasuke’s magic, if you can free me from that spell, then I’ll help you,” Chiyo spit out while circling a log.

“Deal,” Naruto exclaimed. “Hey, are you moving this beast?” Naruto waved out his arm around the room.

“Huh! Of course I am! Sasuke couldn’t do it on his own, he needs me!” The little flame sparkled up a bit more, making herself look bigger. 

“This is Sasuke’s castle?” Naruto stood up straighter, looked around the room again. “What a mess,” he mumbled. He went over to a pile of logs and lifted a couple, placing them near Chiyo the flame. “I’m so tired, I’m just going to rest awhile,” Naruto muttered out as he slipped back into the wooden chair. The flame said nothing more and Naruto drifted off to sleep in the chair.

==x00x00x00x00x00x==

_Ring Ring! Ring Ring!_

Naruto snorted out as the noise invaded his deep sleep. He was too tired to wake up, _‘Just a few more minutes,’_ he snorted inwardly as he felt himself fall into sleep again.

_Ring Ring! Ring Ring! It’s the Hidden Mist door!_

The ringing and now a voice broke through Naruto’s sleep. He could feel himself frowning and slowly allowed the sounds to break through his mind. He heard quickened footsteps from somewhere above him and he kept still. _‘Who could that be?’_ The quickened steps ran down what sounded like stairs and Naruto feigned being asleep.

“Hey who’s this old man?” a small child like voice spoke up right beside Naruto’s ear. Naruto continued to make like he was asleep, faking a snore.

“It’s the Hidden Mist door and how should I know? He wandered in last night from the waste lands.” Naruto recognized that voice, it was Chiyo, the fire demon he spoke to last night.

“You let someone wander in here? How do you know he isn’t a wizard?” The small voice gave an irritated tone as small steps walked away from Naruto.

“Humph! You really think I would let some wizard in here? I have never!” Chiyo sounded angry at the other voice.

Naruto cracked an eye open to see what was happening around him. The room was much lighter now, it was apparent that the sun must be up. He turned his head to the side and saw a small child, with vibrant red hair that stuck in all directions, standing by one of the cluttered counters. The child pulled a cloak from under a stack of clutter and wrapped it around his neck. 

“Keep an eye on him while I attend to the door,” the small voice gave out in a growl. Naruto smiled at the little boy's voice that tried to sound mature. The small red haired boy pulled the cloak hood over his head, then over his face and Naruto watched as the young boy’s face turned into an elder look and large gray beard appeared as well. Naruto sat up more, feeling the bones in his back cracking as he watched the small boy head to the door.

Opening the door, two soldiers stood tall and the small boy, who looked like a small old man now, asked the two soldiers what they wanted. The two soldiers explained to the boy that the wizard who resides at this residence was to report to the king, by order. They bowed and left. 

Naruto stood up then, bowing his back slightly, hearing the bones crack even more. He moaned out before stretching his arms up over his head. The small footsteps came walking up behind him. 

“What are you doing here old man?” the gruff voice growled out as green eyes looked up at Naruto. The boy had deep teal coloured eyes and what looked like eyeliner around his eyes to bring the colour out. Naruto happened to notice that the boy also had a tattoo on his forehead, that he could just see the edges of behind the thick red hair that covered it.

Naruto’s blue eyes sparkled and he gave the boy, who now looked like a boy again, a smile while reaching to rub the wild red hair. He looked about 12 years of age, Naruto guessed.

The boy frowned up at Naruto while slapping at Naruto’s hands trying to get the old hands out of his hair. “Don’t touch anything grandpa,” the boy growled out and turned around towards the door when the ringing started up again.

“It’s the Hidden Stone door!” Chiyo called out.

Naruto watched the boy turn himself into an older man again and open the door to a place where it was raining. A soldier was at the door, in completely different attire from the last soldier Naruto had seen at the door only moments ago. He peered around the boy’s head to get a better look. The soldier informed the boy that the wizard who lived here was ordered to see the king. The boy informed the soldier he would let his master know and closed the door. Naruto was fascinated at the concept that two different worlds appeared behind the same door just moments ago. He grabbed his cane and made his way towards the door, intent on checking things out. He opened the door to find the same rain that was falling minutes before when the boy opened the door. Naruto closed the door and found a dial that had several different colours and he turned the dial. Changing the colour to another, he then opened the door to find the sun shining and the city was different. Naruto’s mouth opened in awe as he took in the sites. It definitely wasn’t the same city he was just looking at that had rain steadily falling. He closed the door again, changing the dial to another colour, and again opening the door. He was met with a wall of fog with sunlight barely breaking through. He took a step out and noticed it was the waste land that he had come from the night prior. Pinching his lips together and nodding his head, he closed the door again.

“Quit playing with the door grandpa,” the boy huffed out in aggravation. 

“This is a magic door isn’t it?” Naruto turned to see the boy pushing junk around what looked like to be a dinner table. “What’s the black colour on the dial?” Naruto asked as he looked at the different colours in the dial.

“Only master Sasuke knows that. So quit playing around with the door already!” The boy had grabbed some cheese and bread from somewhere and was trying to put it on the over cluttered table. 

Naruto wandered back to one of the cluttered countertops, noticing various kinds of food placed in one general location. He opened lids of containers, “hey there is some bacon and eggs here, how about I prepare those.” He began to gather up the containers, balancing them on his arms.

“Chiyo only listens to master Sasuke,” the boy grumbled.

“Oh I can cook.” Naruto took the bacon and eggs over to the side of the fireplace, setting them on the chair then grabbed a frying pan. “Come Chiyo, let’s cook some breakfast.”

“Huh! I don’t do cooking for you!” Chiyo crackled out. “I am a powerful fire demon that doesn’t answer to the likes of you!” 

Naruto whispered out, “you don’t want a cold bucket of water spilled over you or I can tell Sasuke about our little deal hmm?” 

Chiyo sputtered out, sparks spitting out in irritation. “You smart alek withered old grandpa, how dare you--” Her voice was cut off as Naruto placed a frying pan over the flames. Naruto broke a couple eggs and layed some strips of bacon into the pan. Chiyo grumbled out under the frying pan as the food began to sizzle.

The red headed boy looked on, green eyes round with amazement. “Wow, Chiyo is cooking for that grandpa!” he whispered to himself. He quickly started making room on the cluttered table, searching for plates. 

The door suddenly clicked and swooshed when it opened and a tall, broad shouldered man walked in. Blue black locks breezed slightly with the movement of the man walking, his dark eyes settled on the old man standing by the fireplace. He was wearing a cape over his dark blazer and slacks, his boots making a clicking noise on the hardwood floor. 

Naruto looked over to the noise and blinked repeatedly at what he instantly considered the most handsome man he had ever seen. _‘It’s Sasuke, just as I had seen him yesterday,’_ he thought to himself. His blue eyes quickly ran from Sasuke’s deep coal coloured eyes, noting his sharpe features of his face and how his hair framed it perfectly. His skin was smooth like marble and Naruto wondered if it would feel just as smooth under his fingertips. At that thought Naruto suddenly blushed and looked back at the frying pan. He shouldn’t be having such thoughts in his particular state.

“Well Chiyo, look at you being so surprisingly obedient,” Sasuke chuckled out as he took a place beside Naruto. 

“That old man bullied me!” Chiyo cried out, her flame flicking about in an irritated fashion.

“That is something, not many people can do that,” Sasuke chuckled again. “So,” he turned to look at Naruto, “who are you?”

Naruto blushed slightly as he rose his blue eyes to dark black pools. “I’m Naruto,” he whispered out. “I’m the new house help.” He released the frying pan when Sasuke moved his own hand to take it from him, a tingle zapped through his skin when Sasuke’s fingers touched his own. He then placed his hands together, his fingers fidgeting, he suddenly didn’t know what to do with himself while Sasuke stood beside him.

“Pass me more strips of bacon and four more eggs.” Sasuke requested as he focused on the frying pan over the flames. Naruto jumped at the request and began handing Sasuke the food. Naruto watched closely as Sasuke broke open the eggs and threw the shells into the flames. A mouth appeared in the flames as each egg shell was devoured by the flames and Naruto swore he could hear Chiyo chomping and humming away.

“Gaara, get some plates!” Sasuke called out suddenly. Naruto heard the boy scramble about behind them and the clatter of a plate. Sasuke turned and walked towards the half cleaned off dinner table. “Come Naruto, join us please.” Sasuke called out as he started putting eggs and bacon between three plates. Naruto nodded and took a seat at the table beside the boy who was named Gaara. “Enjoy breakfast, let’s eat.” Sasuke sat himself at the end of the table and Naruto watched as Gaara excitedly dug into the eggs and bacon on his plate.

Naruto took his lone fork and poked about at the food on his plate. He glanced over at the boy, Gaara, who was shoveling the food into his mouth. Bits of food flew everywhere on the table and on the boy. “Tsk, even the manners are a mess in this house,” Naruto grumbled.

“So, Naruto, what’s that in your pocket?” His dark eyes focused on Naruto intently.

Naruto gulped in response, “well umm, I’m not…” Naruto patted at his pants pocket to find there was indeed a folded up paper and he pulled it out. It was of red paper, folded and nothing written on the outside. “What the heck is this? I don’t remember--” Naruto stuttered out. His aged hands turning the paper back and forth.

“Let me see it,” Sasuke held out his hand across the table. Naruto passed the paper to Sasuke, and as soon as he touched it, it burst into flames. Naruto was so shocked he released the paper and the burning paper fell to the table top, leaving scorch marks when the paper burned to nothing.

“Magic! Right master Sasuke?” Gaara exclaimed out between bites. Naruto’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Old magic too,” Sasuke whispered out as he leaned over the table to see the scorch marks. _“My love that swallowed the star, your heart will be mine,”_ Sasuke whispered out as his eyes focused on the scorch marks. “Well, that isn’t good for the table,” Sasuke scoffed as he moved his hand over the scorch marks.

Naruto and Gaara both dropped their mouths open in awe as they watched Sasuke’s hand move over the scorch marks and make them disappear. 

“Well, everyone, please enjoy your breakfast,” Sasuke announced as he stood up, carrying his plate of untouched food. He walked over to Chiyo and scrapped the food into the fire. Chiyo’s mouth opened and munched happily. “Chiyo, move the castle to the south ten miles,” he demanded as he put the now empty dish back on the table. “And also prepare hot water for my bath.” Sasuke began to walk to the stairs that ascended up to another floor.

“At the same?! You’re a slave driver!” Chiyo spit up flames and curses as Naruto sat back, taking what just happened all into his mind. 

_‘I’m in a nut house, with an age confused kid, a fire demon with a bad attitude and a should be illegal handsome wizard! And now i’m their house cleaner! What have I got myself into?!’_ Naruto groaned to himself, his chin falling to his chest. He closed his eyes momentarily until he heard Gaara calling out to him.

“You don’t work for the waste land witch do you?” Gaara glared slightly towards Naruto.

Naruto faced turned into a scowl as he heard the question from the boy. “That woman! She was the one that--that--” Naruto’s teeth suddenly clenched, his tongue became numb and his lips zipped shut. “MMM! NNGHH!!” He struggled to move his lips, talk, anything. _‘The spell! I can’t say anything! DAMMIT!’_ Naruto mentally swore in his mind. He then slammed his hands on the table suddenly, causing all the dishes to bounce up and fall. Gaara grabbed his plate of food before it became spilled and leaned back in his chair away from Naruto. A growl grew from Naruto’s chest up to his nose, since his mouth wouldn’t open.

“That witch! If I ever see her--!!” Naruto finally was able to yell out and bang his fists on the table again. He growled out louder this time and grabbed his fork. “Finish your breakfast!” he snapped out at Gaara as he began to eat his own food with vigor. 

==x00x00x00x00x00x==

Dust flew about and hung in the air of the room. The sound of a corn husk broom moving across the wooden floor and grunts was heard through the dust cloud. “So sick and tired of this…” a grumbling voice was heard. “Get moving you, before I chop off all your heads!” The voice grunted out through the dust storm.

Gaara ran through the room, carrying a stack of books and headed outside, where the sun was shining. He teetered as he carried the books and placed them on a chair just outside the door. The dust continued to poof out through the open window and door. Gaara wiped his brow after putting them down and turned to head back in. He was stopped by an elderly man.

“Would like to place an order for a spell,” the elderly man said.

“Come back later. I got a cranky grandpa in there intent on destroying the house!” Gaara cried out. The elderly man chuckled while walking away, mumbling he would be back later. Gaara blew out a sigh from his lips and went back into the dust filled room. He had to get stuff moved before Naruto started throwing things through the window!

Naruto grabbed a large sheet, laying it on the floor in front of the fireplace. Next he grabbed a shovel and placed it on the sheet. Slapping his hands together, dust flew off his hands and he reached to grab a smaller shovel and slipped it underneath Chiyo’s small flame.

“Stop! Stop! No!” Chiyo cried out. Her small flame flickering about frantically. “He’s going to kill me! Help! Help!” The flame continued to cry out as Naruto began to move the small shovel with Chiyo on it away from the fireplace.

“Oh calm down! You’ll be fine, I need to scrape out all these ashes!” Naruto stepped back, slowly maneuvering himself and the shovel to a large metal pail. 

“Aye! Aye! I’m going to die! Help! Help!” Chiyo continued to cry out. Her small flame was on a charred bit of wood as Naruto dropped her and the small bit of wood into the metal pail. 

Naruto quickly grabbed up the larger shovel and began dragging all the ashes into the laid out sheet, Chiyo crying out from the pail behind him. “Narutoooo, please please! I’m going out, please Narutooo!” Naruto patently ignored the fire demon’s cries as he wanted to quickly get the ashes swept up and out of the house. “Gaara! Help me with this!” Naruto called out. Gaara quickly ran to his side and helped Naruto hoist the rolled up sheet full of ashes out the door.

Boots clicked onto the wooden floor and an elegant smooth hand reached into the metal bucket on the floor. The hand scooped up a small blue red flame in the palm of his hand and red full lips puckered up and blew gently on the flame in his hand. 

Naruto came walking back in with the now empty dirty sheet and stopped short when he saw Sasuke standing at the fireplace. The man was just as striking beautiful even when standing in a dust infested room. His blue black hair was perfectly in place, as it fell softly down the sides of his cheeks while he was hunched over his hand. Naruto could see his red lips blowing softly into his hand and he immediately wondered if those lips were soft as they looked. Sasuke wore a white button up dress shirt today that made him look sharp with crisp black slacks and boots. Naruto noticed that Sasuke had on a thick gold chain with a jewel that highlighted his collar bone so much Naruto wondered if Sasuke’s skin was smooth and silky to the touch as it had looked. Naruto blushed suddenly at all these thoughts. What was he thinking! He was nothing but a lowlife and now he was an old man. He shouldn’t be thinking such things about Sasuke. 

Sasuke looked over at Naruto just as a flame flared up in his palm. “I would appreciate you not hurt my friend,” Sasuke spoke out gently but with a firm tone. He walked over the fireplace, putting a couple logs in the holding and placed the now bright flame onto the logs. The flame began to crackle and lick at the logs. 

Sasuke glanced over at Gaara. “Gaara, make sure Naruto doesn’t get carried away,” his voice spoke plainly as he walked past Gaara towards the door.

“Master Sasuke, are you going out?” Gaara asked out as Sasuke walked past him. Sasuke did not answer as he turned the dial onto the black colour and disappeared through the door. Gaara teal eyes glared at Naruto, “what did you do?!”

“He almost killed me!” Chiyo cried out from the fireplace. Naruto glared at the fire. “If you kill me, Sasuke dies too!” Chiyo spat out at the glaring Naruto.

“Oh shush, your fine. I needed to get that clean!” Naruto shook his fist at the crackling flame. Chiyo blew out a raspberry at Naruto that released an array of sparks. He shot another glare at Chiyo as he grabbed a mop and bucket and headed towards the stairwell. _‘Such a whiner,’_ he grumbled in his head.

Gaara shot past Naruto and stopped on the stairwell, holding his arms out, showing that Naruto couldn’t go up the stairs, his face took on a serious expression. Naruto chuckled at the antics of the boy. He grinned out, “if there are things you don’t want me to see, you better go hide them now!”

Gaara’s eyes widened. “Save my room for last, okay!” With that he turned immediately and bounded up the stairs. Naruto just chuckled under his breath and shook his head. Of course he knew Gaara’s way of thinking. Naruto may only be 17 years of age, but he was Gaara’s age not too long ago. He slowly made his way up the steps to the second floor.

Naruto took each step slowly, his knees giving a bit of a pinch from the work he had already done on the main floor. _‘Ugh, getting old totally sucks,’_ he whined out to himself. He looked up and around at the hallway when he reached the top of the stairs. Cobwebs were thick across the ceiling and light fixtures. Large masses of dust balls were gathered into the corners. Drips of god knows what was on the walls. Naruto caught the movement of some mice and perhaps centipedes scurrying down the hallway.

_‘What a mess! It’s just as bad as it was downstairs! Ugh!’_ Naruto wrinkled his nose in disgust and then let out a sigh. May as well get to it. He shuffled down the hall and saw Gaara at an open door further down. “I’m not ready!” he yelled out and the door slammed. Naruto just chuckled.

Grabbing for the door closest to him, Naruto pushed on the wooden door, and instantly gagged. The small porcelain room was obviously Sasuke’s bathroom. The claw foot tub was still half filled with murky water, the sink was covered in various spills of all colours, the floor looked like it hadn’t been scrubbed for years and Naruto didn’t even want to look into the toilet. At this point, he was thankful that there was a bathroom downstairs on the main floor that he had been using. Rolling his eyes, Naruto closed the door, determined that this room would be for later. 

Moving towards another door, it creaked and groaned when Naruto tried to push it open and he shoved his shoulder into it, forcing the aged door to open. “Urk!” Naruto cried out as the door suddenly gave and he found himself falling through it. The fresh air hit his nose immediately and Naruto’s blues opened wide at the site. He had fallen into a small wooden deck on the outside of the moving beast. Naruto found his footing and grabbed the side rails of the deck. _‘Woah…’_ Naruto was in awe of the site. Being several meters up from the ground, Naruto could see far across the horizon. The colours were vibrant with the sun reflecting off the thousands of flowers and grass and Naruto could see the crystal sparkles of a lake in the distance.

“Chiyo! Chiyo! Are you moving this beast!?” Naruto called out through the door that led inside. Suddenly he felt lighter and free, as if he didn’t have a care in the world and Naruto wanted to relish in it.

“Of course I am, who else you think does all the work around here!” Chiyo yelled back, her voice huffing out in irritation. 

“Holy hell, Chiyo you’re magic is amazing! I take back what I said earlier about you being a whiner!” Naruto shouted back with a laugh.

“You said what! When!?” Chiyo growled out from the downstairs, her sparks exploding out at her outburst.

Naruto burst out laughing. “Oops! I didn’t say it outloud! But whatever, Chiyo, you have amazing magical spark!” Naruto leaned over the rails and took a deep breath in, loving the feeling of the clean air and beautiful scenery.

“He likes my spark?!” Chiyo whispered out. “He likes my spark!” Chiyo shouted out in excitement and pride as she swelled into a large fire. The moving house puffed up and blew out streams of smoke out through all the chimney’s picking up speed as it moved across the plains.

Gaara came out to stand on the deck beside Naruto, looking over the fields, his small hands grasping the edge of the rails. “Are you an evil wizard?” Gaara whispered out, his teal eyes still looking over the landscape, the wind rustling his deep red hair. 

Naruto huffed out a laugh then put his weathered hand on Gaara’s head. He began to ruffle up the hair, “why yes little whipper snapper, I’m the worst wizard there is! The kind that bites, snaps and likes a clean house!” Naruto’s raspy aged voice was filled with mirth as he broke into a deep chuckle while rubbing the red hair. He looked down into the teal eyes that stared up at him, and returned a grin at the boy. At this particular moment Naruto was glad that the spell let him keep all his teeth! 

“Hmph, okay grandpa. You’re okay,” Gaara snorted out as he looked back over the rail. “Hey, what’s that!” Gaara pointed over the rail to the side of the moving house.

Naruto glanced over to see a familiar looking stick, pointing out from the side of the moving house. “Huh,” Naruto puffed out. He stepped closer to the side of the balcony and tilted his head. “Well I’ll be, that’s pumpkin head. Gaara, give me a hand please.” Naruto reached over, grabbing the end of the stick and gave a pull. “Nggh, damn he’s stuck again.”

Gaara came over and reached over the rail, grasping a hold of the stick. He pulled, gritting his teeth and letting out groans. “You-you know this stick?” Gaara gasped out as he continued to pull.

Naruto wiggled the stick about, trying to get it loose. “Yup. This pumpkin head seems keen on following me and getting stuck!” Naruto gave a final grunt and the scarecrow pulled free. The scarecrow popped up and bounded on the edge of the moving house, its grin looking at the two on the balcony. “If you're sticking around pumpkin head, I’ll be putting you to work!” Naruto shook his fist at the scarecrow. “Now, back to work,” Naruto rubbed at Gaara’s hair and headed back inside.

==x00x00x00x00x00x==

A black winged creature flew high through the clouds, the ground below was black with blasts of red explosions going off in every direction. The winged creature was slender, yet each whing was well longer than its body. It smoothly cut through the air silently, twisting and turning through the clouds, causing only a whiff of the clouds to move when it went through them. 

The black winged creature dived and twisted to a flying ship, flying across the bow and an explosion soon followed where the creature had just passed. The ship began to lose altitude as numerous explosions continued to go off within the ship and the black winged creature flapped hard as it took off high into the clouds again. It hesitated slightly as it turned to look at the ship, now fully engulfed in flames, falling to the ground. “Hn,” came from the red lips that were giving a sneer. Black feathers now framed his face instead of hair. Black eyes glared at the ship as it appeared to be spouting out black puffs of beings from the side of it as it descended to the earth below. “Shit…” Sasuke spat out, his wings stretching out as he took off through the clouds. The air picked up under his wings, he tucked in his legs and let the wind pull him away from the onslaught of attackers. He twisted and turned through the clouds, hearing the animalistic howls coming from behind him as they gave chase. They were getting closer…

Lightning lit up the black clouds and an explosion filled with blue streaks of lightning bursts in every direction behind the black clouds, lighting up the outlines briefly. Several small shadows could be seen through the burst of lightning, being propelled away from the centre of the blast and falling towards the earth. The large winged shadow stretched out its wings briefly before it too began to fall when the bursts of light ended, casting the sky into complete darkness once again.

Chiyo burnt low and quietly in the fireplace. The room was dark with only her light causing a soft glow about the room. She heard the door click about and slowly open. There was blackness behind the open door and a tall winged creature materialized from the darkness and stepped into the room.

“You look like shit,” Chiyo huffed out. “You stink too, smelling like burnt fur.” Sasuke’s head hung down as his feathered body shuffled heavily to the chair that was placed in front of the fireplace. HIs wing tips dragged behind him on the floor, random black feathers fluttered to the floor silently and talons scraped at the wooden floor with each step. He sat hard, leaning back, his head fell back over the back of the chair, feathers hanging down from his head, his lips parted and panting heavily. “You need to be careful Sasuke. You keep flying like that, you won’t be able to change back.” Chiyo had a hint of concern in her voice as flamed scraggly arms reached to the side and grabbed a log that had been placed near her. “Isn’t this great? Naruto set this up for me,” she chirped out as she began to let her flames lick around the log, her small arms hugging it close to her flame.

Sasuke breathed out heavily as he began to grunt out in discomfort, his eyes squinting shut hard. The feathers began to descend, getting smaller and smaller until Sasuke’s body was now skin again. His clawed feet trembled as the claws came together to stretch out and form back into his shoes. A tremor vibrated through Sasuke’s body as his body was once more human. His black hair fell limp behind the chair. His marbled skinned face was flushed red and his red lips remained parted as he panted out. “Th-The war has started,” he panted out. “It was a sea of flame from southern ocean to the northern boundary.”

“I hate the smell of fire that comes from gunpowder,” Chiyo scoffed out as her flame licked around the logs.

“I was attacked by my own kind tonight,” Sasuke opened his eyes, but continued to stare at the ceiling.

“Those wizards are lost now, forever,” Chiyo’s voice was laced with sadness. “They can never change back into humans.”

“They are alright, they do not have any memory of being human, if that makes it easier for you to accept,” Sasuke breathed out as he moved to sit himself up in the chair. He brought his hands up to cradle his face, inhaling deeply before standing up. 

“Hey, the kings have summoned you right?” Chiyo called out while Sasuke walked towards a curtain.

“Hn,” Sasuke breathed out as he slowly pulled a curtain back. He quietly tucked his head between the curtain to see thick blond hair and a tanned young face sleeping peacefully on a futon. The blanket was pulled up to his chin, his tanned face was smooth and relaxed as he breathed deeply in sleep. Sasuke could see the three marks on the one side of his cheek and Sasuke’s coal eyes softened at the site. He slowly pulled back and made his way up the stairs. “Run me hot water for a bath Chiyo,” he muttered out.

Chiyo muttered out something about being a slave as her flame flickered about in the darkness. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody. I'm still having fun with this, though its a bit challenging in some spots, but meh... all in good fun right?
> 
> Work is really making it difficult for me to sit and write...usually I'm just exhausted afterwards and want to just do nothing but binge netflix.

Naruto grasped his cane tightly as he shuffled down the sidewalk on the bright warm morning. Gaara, disguised as an old man, kept up pace beside him, carrying a basket. The sea birds were chirping in the distance and Naruto could see the sea sparkling from the bright sun.

“I love going to the markets first thing in the morning. Isn’t this a beautiful day?” Naruto inhaled deeply and ran a weathered hand through his silver hair. He scratched absentmindedly at his cheek, grumbling slightly as he felt his loose old man skin. Sometimes he forgot he was an old man now and would often get an irritated reminder, like now. 

“Hn, I hate mornings,” Gaara’s deep voice grumbled out.

“I’ve never seen the sea before,” Naruto spoke out while they walked. “It looks like there are diamonds on the surface, see Gaara?” 

“Hn, I hate the sea.” Gaara grumbled out again. Naruto just chuckled.

The pair were at a vegetable cart and Naruto was picking out potatoes, putting them into the basket Gaara held on to. “Hmm, these look good eh Gaara?” 

“Hn, I hate potatoes.” 

Naruto tsked at him. “Let’s go get some fish down the way here,” Naruto pointed to another cart where someone was selling fish.

“Hn, I hate fish,” Gaara mumbled out as he followed Naruto. Naruto shook his head in disbelief at the boy.

As Naruto was eyeing the fish, crowds of people began to get loud and rush down the cobblestone road. Ignoring the people, Naruto continued to pick out a fish. “Sorry sir, we’re closed,” the fish cart seller said and quickly ran off with the rest of the crowd.

“What the fu--” Naruto muttered as he turned around to see the crowd heading down the road to the seashore. Naruto could see black billowing smoke coming from the water. “What is that?” Naruto held a hand over his eyes to block out the sun and squinted.

“Naruto! Look! Look! It’s a ship in the water!” Gaara pointed out excitedly. “Let’s get a closer look!” Gaara began to pull on Naruto’s shirt.

Naruto was suddenly frozen with fear. “N-no Gaara, I don’t want to,” he stuttered out, backing away from the boy who was still disguised as an old man. The black smoke billowing out from the damaged ship got closer as the crowds got louder. Shouts were heard from various people about what was happening with the apparent state of the art ship, where it had come from, why it was on fire and mentions of the war going on.

Naruto’s back hit a wall of one of the buildings and he clenched his shirt at his chest. His heartbeat was thundering against his chest and he couldn’t catch his breath. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but the fear riddled through his body like ice.

“Hello there little cobbler,” a voice slithered into his ear from beside him. 

Naruto’s heart slammed hard against his chest at the surprise and he turned to see emerald eyes glaring into his own. Her light pink lips were curled up in a smirk and strawberry blond tufts of hair were falling from beneath her hat. Naruto fought to keep his knees from giving out as he leaned against the wall as the witch’s aura pushed into him.

“What you want w-witch,” Naruto spat out as best he could. He felt around behind him, finding Gaara and tucked him behind him so the witch wouldn’t see him. 

The witch stood up straight and sneered at him. Her large brimmed hat had feathers all around the rim that created a shadow around her. Her dress was tight black and low cleavage. Naruto could see the heavy blush, thick lipstick and excessive eye makeup on the witch. It made her look as if she was wearing a mask. A thick black shawl, looking like it was made of black animal fur and feathers hung over her shoulders. In her one hand she held a long cane with a jewel on the end and she slowly flicked it between her fingers. 

“Just out to market, like anyone else,” the witch scoffed out. “Not my problem you happened to be in the same area,” she drawled out as she now looked at her nails.Two top hats suddenly appeared behind her, Naruto blinked rapidly as the top hats rose higher and faceless black heads poked over the witch’s shoulders. “Come boys, we shall continue with our shopping needs. Tah tah cobbler, give my regards to Sasuke,” she laughed out as her heels clicked on the sidewalk. Two tall round looking blobs of black, wearing top hats and what looked like a type of vest followed close behind her.

_ ‘Doesn’t anyone see those -- those things? Are they pretending to be human or something?’ _ Naruto thought to himself while his blue eyes glared at the back of the witch. Her body was overswinging her hips as she slipped between the crowds. Naruto then let out a sigh as his heart finally began to settle down. 

“Who was that Naruto,” Gaara whispered out when he poked out from behind Naruto. He was still in disguise as an old man and Naruto was suddenly thankful for that. 

“The waste land witch,” Naruto whispered out. “Let’s go Gaara.” Naruto was suddenly wanting to get back to the house. He had enough of this place.

==/\/\==

Naruto and Gaara had made it back to the house and were beginning to put the food away in their respectful places.

“AAAHHHH!!!” A cry pierced through the house and Naruto swore he saw the walls vibrate. Loud thumps of someone running down the stairs were heard and Naruto saw a sopping wet body, wearing a towel and a wet mop of orange hair. Slender fingers were covering the face as the wet man came tripping towards him. 

“NARUTOOOoo!” Sasuke cried out as he stopped directly in front of the elder. “I specifically asked you not to get carried away!! You messed up the potions in my bathroom!” Sasuke slumped in front of Naruto, his arms hung limply in front of him, his hair wet and hanging over his face.

Naruto bent over slightly to try and see the man’s face, “Sasuke?” 

Sasuke lifted his head up, dragging his hands over his smooth face and his eyes were wide black and looked horrified. “Look at my hair!” Sasuke wailed out as he grabbed fist fulls of his now bright orange hair and pulled it up. 

“You have lovely hair Sasuke,” Naruto retorted, not sure where this conversation was going.

“Argh! Because of YOU, all my potions are messed up and my spell came out wrong! And now my hair!” Sasuke’s eyes were still wide, still looking horrified and he still stared straight at Naruto as if he was going to be able to fix it.

Naruto frowned and stood back up, crossing his arms across his chest. “Look here, I did no such thing! I only cleaned that mess of a bathroom!”

Sasuke’s eyes and mouth began to droop, his hands released his hair as he began to step backwards towards the chair that was in front of the fireplace. “I’m ruined... _ ruined _ …” Sasuke muttered out as he fell back into the chair. He dropped his face into his hands again and continued to moan out in agony.

Naruto blew out a breath and rolled his eyes.  _ ‘Yeesh, such drama…’ he thought. _ He shuffled up to Sasuke’s side and fingered Sasuke’s bright orange hair. “Come now Sasuke, it isn’t that bad, it's a lovely colour and you know you can just dye it back...”

“I’m hideous...I can’t live if I can’t be beautiful…” Sasuke murmured out into his hands, his head shaking back and forth.

Naruto felt something snap inside him. He stood up quickly and put his hands on his hips. His bottom lip trembled as he frowned. “FINE! Be that way! YOU think you got it so bad! I’ve never once been loved. YOU--YOU big baby!” Naruto yelled out, his eyes watering out and he bit his lip to keep it from trembling. He turned on his heel and ran for the door the best he could. “I--I can’t deal with this anymore! I’m leaving!” he said between sobs as he ran out the door.

Naruto ran as well as he could on his old legs through the rain, his tears falling and his body hiccuping out sobs. He slowed down as he came to the edge of a lake, the surface pittering expanding circles as the raindrops fell steadily. Naruto slowed to a stop at the edge of the lake and he stared out over the surface, his own hot tears streaming down his cheeks. He didn’t feel the cool rain soaking through his tattered shirt and simple pants as his sobs began to erupt into wails. He let it all go, the rain mixing with his tears on his face, his cries being drowned out by the rain and his shoulders shook as his emotional turmoil finally released. 

He hadn’t expressed any type of emotional outbreak since being placed under the spell, he managed to hold it all in until now.  _ ‘S-stupid Sas-Sasuke. Thinks he has it so hard,’  _ he thought to himself as he ran a sleeve over his eyes. The rain drops suddenly stopped falling on him and he looked up in surprise to see an umbrella being held over his head. Naruto’s blues looked over to see the scarecrow somehow holding the umbrella. “Thank you pumpkin head,” he whispered and gave him a soft smile. “You always seem to be at the right place at the right time.” Naruto ran his sleeve over his face again, wiping away the last of his tears. He took a deep breath and turned back towards the large moving beast he currently called home.

When Naruto reached the outside door, Gaara came running out into the rain. “Naruto! Hurry! It’s Sasuke!” He ran into Naruto, clutching his shirt, his teal green eyes wide with worry. 

Naruto picked up his pace and hurried inside the door. He heard Chiyo calling out to Sasuke, her voice sounding worried and panicked. Gaara went running past him, heading to where Sasuke was still apparently sitting in the chair, but slumped right over. Naruto was surprised to see that instead of an orange wild haired half naked man, he saw the outline of a half naked man, still with orange hair, but now covered in what looked like green hair gel. It leaked off his body like an ice cube melting in the summer sun.

“Naruto, hurry! He’s calling upon the dark spirits.” Gaara tiptoed around the slick thick gel that was growing, making his way around to the other side of the slouched Sasuke. There was an ominous low howling sound vibrating throughout the room and shadows appeared to start blocking out any light.

“Sasuke, please Sasuke, stop! You’re going to make me disappear, Sasuke please!” Chiyo howled out as the thick slick puddle started to move in close to the small flame. 

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Geez, such a drama queen,” he blurted out. “Come on Gaara, help me get him upstairs to the tub.” Naruto threw one of Sasuke’s arms around his shoulder and grunted as he tried to hoist the slicked up man up. “Come on Sasuke, you’re fine, help me out here,” Naruto continued to grunt out as he walked slowly towards the stairs leading up. “Chiyo, hot water please,” he called out as he took each step slowly. His knees protested greatly but he grit his teeth through the pain. “Gaara, run up there and get his bath ready.” Gaara zoomed past the two men up the stairs. Naruto grunted a little more until he hesitated after hearing a  _ splattering noise behind him _ . He glanced behind Sasuke’s back, looked at the smooth skinned trail and he couldn’t help but glance at the round firm backside that was now visible. The towel he had on earlier was now a soppy pile two steps down. Naruto instantly blushed at the site and looked up. “Geez Sasuke, have some modesty,” Naruto grimached out as he slowly moved Sasuke up the stairs.

Leading Sasuke to the tub, his eyes continuously looking up, Gaara helped get Sasuke into the steamy tub. “Help him get cleaned up Gaara,” Naruto called out as he stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door. He heard Gaara acknowledge his request as he blew out a raspberry in exhaustion. His eyes looked to the floor and he slumped his shoulders immediately. “Now I gotta clean this goopy mess up, ugh!” He stomped his way to the broom closet to fetch the mop and bucket.

==/\/\==

A few hours later, Naruto carried a mug that was steaming slightly as he walked down the hallway. He came to a deep rich coloured door covered in various shiny metal trinkets. Naruto knew this was Sasuke’s room, as he could feel the magic coming off of the door therefore he never approached it. He took a deep breath and knocked gently, calling out that it was him and if he could come in. Hearing a tired sounding  _ enter _ he turned the golden coloured door knob and opened the door. He had not seen the inside of Sasuke’s room, thus his eyes took in the decor immediately. The room was dark, but yet it had a soft glow about it, for on the some of the walls were hundreds if not thousands of the same type of metal shiny trinkets of all sizes. They were sparkling in many colours that reflected all around the room, and Naruto wondered briefly how one could sleep in such a room that was constantly shooting off lights. 

Naruto saw a wardrobe at the far corner of the room and dark red drapes that covered the entirety of one wall. Naruto wondered if there was a window behind those thick massive drapes. He stepped deeper into the room, turning to close the door quietly behind him. Turning back around to take in the full room, he saw Sasuke lying on a large bed on the opposite corner of the wardrobe. A small lamp was lit on the bedside table, which appeared to be giving the soft glow of the room. Sasuke’s bed was a canopy bed, with soft sheer golden coloured drapes drawn all around him. Naruto looked up and saw that the ceiling had a chandelier, but all around it and hanging off of it were the same shiny metal pieces that were attached to the walls and door.  _ ‘Probably has never turned on the chandelier and why would he want these strange mobiles hanging around?’ _ Naruto thought to himself as he stepped closer to Sasuke’s bed.  _ ‘Whatever…’  _ he dismissed his thoughts quickly.

“Sasuke, I brought you some warm milk, would you like some?” Naruto called out softly as he set it down on the one bedside table with the lone lamp. He could see Sasuke through the sheer and his eyes were closed as he lay upon his back, but he could see him shake his head no. “Well you should drink it before it gets cold. I left it on the table.” Naruto turned to head back out.

“Naruto, please.” Naruto hesitated in his steps. “Please stay with me,” Sasuke whispered out, turning his head slightly, his coal coloured eyes looking directly at him. 

Naruto’s heart fluttered as he looked at the vulnerability in those dark coloured eyes. Sasuke looked like a lost child, begging to be shown the way. Naruto suddenly felt a sadness for the man. Here he was, a powerful wizard, being sought out by kings and witches and god knows who else, who wanted to use him and not appreciate who he was. This man has been nothing but kind to Naruto since he practically broke into his house and took over a few days ago. Naruto gave Sasuke a soft smile and moved back, finding a stool and sat on it right beside Sasuke’s bed. Those deep coloured eyes followed his movements until Naruto sat, his bones thanking him for taking a seat. 

“Would you like to drink some milk?” Naruto whispered, his hand reaching for the mug. Sasuke closed his eyes and shook his head no. “Would you like something different?” he pushed some more. Sasuke again shook his head no and let out a long sigh. Naruto clasped his hands together on his lap and fiddled his fingers. “Sasuke?” he asked out quietly. Sasuke hummed out a short sound, informing Naruto he was listening. “I-I want to say thank you,” Naruto began. Sasuke remained silent, eyes closed. Naruto took a deep breath, his eyes looking around the room, his fingers clasped together. “I just wanted you to know I appreciate you letting me stay here,” Naruto managed to say out in one long exhale.

Sasuke then opened his eyes and turned to look at him. Naruto suddenly felt shy and looked down at his hands that fiddled in his lap. When he didn’t hear anything but Sasuke’s breathing for several seconds, he finally convinced himself to look back at Sasuke. The small smile on Sasuke’s face, the soft look he was giving had Naruto begin to blush. He nervously put a hand through his gray hair and scratched the back of his neck. “So, umm...yeah, thank you very much.” He shrugged with a smile. 

Twinkles and bell noises began to hum in the room and both Sasuke and Naruto looked towards the chandelier. Sasuke frowned at the hanging trinkets and Naruto just watched the movement, entranced by the lights and sounds.

“That witch is looking for my home,” Sasuke breathed out, sounding exhausted.

“Really?” Naruto snapped his head back to Sasuke. “Oh, she found me at the market today.” Naruto shuddered slightly as he recalled the dark fear that shrouded over him. Sasuke swung his head, his eyes stared with question at Naruto’s demure. Naruto twitched in surprise when Sasuke placed his hand on his. A gentle touch that calmed Naruto immediately. “She did say to give you regards. Why the hell would she be looking for you?” Naruto then folded his arms across this chest. Suddenly he felt irritated thinking about the witch wanting Sasuke. 

Sasuke took a deep breath, letting the breath out slowly between his pouted lips. “I met her when I was much younger, just a lad really, barely 12 years of age. We studied under the same sensei for a few years.” Sasuke brought his arm up and placed it across his forehead, causing a shadow to form over his eyes. “She was infatuated with me. She informed me over and over that we were meant to be. That all the stars and fortune tellers told her so.”

Naruto curled his lip up in disgust and his nose squished up. “That painted up boobie doll?”

Sasuke then chuckled at Naruto’s outburst. “Yes Naruto, that  _ boobie doll _ , was so enraptured with me, I think she bewitched herself. No matter how many times I pushed her away, told her I wasn’t interested, she wouldn’t stop. I ended up leaving my studies early, when I was 15. I ran away.” Sasuke moved his head to look up at the twinkling trinkets as they made another soft sound. “She was really a pretty girl, probably could have had anyone,” he mumbled out. 

Naruto waited to see if Sasuke had anything else more to say, as it looked as if he did, but Sasuke continued to stare up at the twinkling trinkets that would vibrate every other moment. “She doesn’t seem very nice,” Naruto humphed out. “I think she enjoys bullying people to get her way.” He nodded, agreeing with his own statement. 

Sasuke hummed out what sounded like a small laugh. “I can’t say that I know her in that way, but with her insistence on trying to find me alarms me.” He hesitated for a moment, pinching his lips in thought. “And now with this war, the two kings are ordering me to fight for them.”

“Wait wait...there is more than one king who wants you to fight? How does that work?” Naruto scratched the top of his head while smacking his lips in thought.

“I’m known as many names in various kingdoms Naruto,” Sasuke whispered out. “It’s the only way I can stay hidden.” 

“So why do you have to obey the kings then? Couldn’t you just say,  _ to hell with you all!’ _ Naruto lifted his arms up in exasperation. “Seriously...you’re a wizard for fucks sakes, people should be respecting you! Not pushing you around!” Naruto then folded his arms and pinched his lips into a frown.

Sasuke’s eyes widened in shock at Naruto’s words.  _ ‘Such honesty and innocence. Probably naive too, yet he seems so sincere. Could he really be though?’  _ Sasuke was wary. He had met nothing but sneaky, selfish, malicious people all his life that abused him in many ways thus, it was understandable why he wasn’t keen on meeting people, less on developing a relationship. Naruto continued to grumble under his breath about assholes and bullies and Sasuke’s lip raised slightly, that could almost be a soft smile. “Thank you Naruto, you are very kind.” 

Naruto stopped mumbling and then gave Sasuke a grin. “Well, it pisses me off when people take advantage of others, you know?” Naruto lowered his gaze and played at his fingertips. “I didn’t have anything, living on the streets ya know, until the cobbler took me in.” Naruto sighed out again, his blue eyes peeked up at Sasuke momentarily and looked back down at his lap embarrassed when he saw Sasuke staring at him. “But, umm..that's another story,” Naruto coughed out slightly and looked over to where two scrolls, both open, and pinned to the wall over Sasuke’s bed. “What’s that?” Naruto nodded his head up to the scroll.

Sasuke glanced up slightly and then sank back into his bed. “Those are the contracts that I had to sign with the kings when entering into magic. They are binded by magic, that I must obey when summoned.” He frowned slightly, closing his eyes again. “The price one pays to enter into the schools.”

“Well why don’t you just go and convince them to stop this stupid war?! They should listen to you, since you’re so smart, and knowledgeable and handsome err...” Naruto trailed off, his face heating up when he realized what he said. He looked down at his fingers again and frowned when he noticed his gray tinged skin and age spots. Sometimes he forgot he was now so old. He heard a slight rustle of fabric and gasped when he looked up to be faced directly into deep pool black eyes that were a mere breath from his own.. “S-Sasuke? Wha-?” Naruto tried to squirm back but found it impossible with the stool firmly situated to the floor. His hand grasped his shirt, fisting it tightly as if trying to will his heart to stop thumping so hard against his chest. 

“You,” Sasuke’s eyes flickered back and forth as they took in the surprised bright blue eyes, “could go in my place.” Sasuke held his breath. It was selfish of him to ask this innocent man, but the fear of attending, when he had hidden himself for so long, it almost seemed like it was a grand idea. Naruto was so straight forward, passionate when he could be... there was something about him that Sasuke envied that he wished he could be.Those bright blue eyes just stared back at him, shocked at such a suggestion. “You could go as my father,” he suggested. He watched those eyes and he swore there was a sudden movement of sadness but when he blinked, it was gone. Did he imagine it? “Tell them that your son is such a coward and useless.” 

“No your not!” Naruto spat out. Irritation obvious in his voice. 

Sasuke relaxed his face slightly and sank back on his knees onto his bed, giving Naruto his space. He lowered his eyes and shook his head slightly, “if you tell them that, then perhaps my old sensei will back off.” 

Naruto didn’t know what to think. Part of him was fuming that Sasuke could think of himself as a coward and good for nothing, but another part of him was wanting to protect the child that was obviously taken advantage of for god knows how long. Now that Sasuke was not directly in front of him, Naruto tilted his head and took in the man. His hair was still ridiculously orange, but he was certain Sasuke could fix that. The man looked like a lost child, trying to find his way through a mountain of tunnels, and slowly being dragged into sadness as he couldn’t find his way. Naruto brought his fingers up to Sasuke’s forehead and pushed his pointed finger into the area between Sasuke’s eyebrows, giving it a push. Sasuke’s eyebrows rose in surprise but he didn’t lift his head. Naruto puffed out a breath of a smile, “don’t frown so much, it will give you premature wrinkles.” Naruto smiled then, smoothing out the worry wrinkles with his finger. “I’ll go. It’s the least I could do for you since you’ve done so much for me.” 

Naruto then took a deep breath, slapping his hands on his legs. “Well, I better get back to my duties. I’m sure Gaara is going to be complaining about something soon.You rest up now.” He grinned then brought a hand to the back of his neck, scratching at it.

Sasuke lifted his head to watch as Naruto smiled and started to stand up. Naruto gave him a nod and he watched as Naruto shuffled his way to the door. “Naruto,” he called out. Naruto hesitated at the door, his tired hand resting on the door handle and he hummed out a response, indicating he was listening. “...nothing.” Naruto just hummed another response and made his way out the door. Sasuke dropped his head into his hands, rubbing furiously at the skin at his face. He really was a coward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts, notes, smiles and cheers are always appreciated. :D
> 
> I'm on tumblr, can always msg me there is you have questions. Same handle!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good day. I was away on holidays with my fam, doing the summer camp and visit with extended family thing, but now I'm home, got back to my WIPs and posting. Soon I'll have to go back to work...wah...
> 
> Enjoy!

Naruto finished putting away the lunch dishes, fed Chiyo some extra logs and went about doing a final sweep of the floor. Putting the broom away, he wandered to the coat cupboard and grabbed his hat. 

“You’re wearing that hat?”

“AH!” Naruto squealed out and turned quickly, finding Sasuke standing behind him, his orange hair limp, his eyes still looking sad and he was wrapped in a blanket. “What the hell! You trying to give me a heart attack?! I’m an old man you know!” Naruto had his hand pushed on his chest, his other hand against the wall, holding up his body as he breathed heavy, trying to get his heart to calm down.

“But I got you some new things,” Sasuke kept eyeing the hat on Naruto’s head, obviously not listening to Naruto’s rant. 

Naruto frowned and glared up at Sasuke. Seeing the light bags under his eyes, the gray tint to his otherwise smooth marble skin, he let out a sigh and dropped his head. “Sasuke,” he sighed out. “Go get some rest now.” Naruto shook his head. “I’m going to meet the king now,” he said firmly when he looked up to meet Sasuke’s deep coloured eyes. He pulled on the edges of his hat, giving it a hard tug down and gave a stern ‘humph!’ in response as he stepped around Sasuke. “Now where is my cane…ahhh yes...”

Sasuke turned and chased Naruto, grabbing his shoulder before he reached the door. “Naruto, wait…” 

Naruto hesitated, ignoring the soft calming heat that was coming from Sasuke’s hand and radiating through his skin.  _ ‘How come his heat makes me feel so calm?’  _ Naruto shook the thought from his head. Sasuke wasn’t feeling well, he obviously had a fever and needed to rest. He gasped a little when Sasuke pulled on him gently, turning his body to face him. The heat transferred to his hand immediately when Sasuke grabbed his right hand and cupped it between both of his hands. Naruto momentarily stared at his hand being enveloped between Sasuke’s and then he frowned. Sasuke’s hands were amazingly warm, looked so glamorous, felt smooth, silky even, and of course the youth glowed from them. His own hand appeared almost an ugly brown with wrinkles and age spots, a nasty reminder that he was now an old man and it left a sour taste in his mouth. Just as he was going to pull his hand away, Sasuke squeezed.

“Naruto, please take this,” Sasuke whispered and moved his one hand up to the air and twisted it quickly, then turned his fingers about and showed Naruto what he was holding. His other hand did not let go of Naruto’s. Gently he moved Naruto’s hand, the one he was still holding, moved it up slightly and turned it, so his fingers were stretched out. Sasuke held the item in his two fingers and moved it slowly down to Naruto’s splayed fingers. Blue eyes were hypnotized watching the article moving down to his hand and being slipped onto his ring finger. “Wear this. It will guide you back home should you ever need it.” Sasuke then squeezed Naruto’s hand gently before letting it go. 

Naruto’s hand stayed hovering where Sasuke left it and his eyes blinked a few times, staring at the small gold ring on his hand. There was a small blue gem situated in the middle, a thin line of silver surrounded the gem, looking like it was keeping the blue gem snug in place. 

“Wow master Sasuke, is that a magic ring?” Gaara broke the silence as he peeked up on his toes to get a look at the top of Naruto’s hand. 

Naruto snapped out of it and clenched the hand that was now donning a gold ring. “Okay, I’m going,” he barked out and turned on his heel.

“I’ll follow you in disguise, to ensure you’re safe!” Sasuke called out.

“Doubt that it will work,” Naruto grumbled out as he began walking through the cobbled streets. He walked with his head straight, shoulders back and his cane clicking on the stones beside him. The sharp sound of the cane and his shoes made him feel as if he was someone of importance.  _ ‘Of course he was feeling important, he was going to see the king!’ _ He continued on his way, heading straight for the impressive mansion on the hill, surrounded by lush green gardens. Naruto took care to make his way around people who were walking every which way. 

_ ‘Sasuke said he would be following me, what could his disguise be?’ _ Naruto’s eyes began to scan all the different areas as he walked smartly along. A few ravens hopped around the area, pecking at the stones for crumbs when one looked up at him and squawked, ruffling its feathers at Naruto.  _ ‘He better not be a bird, what a stupid disguise that would be,’ _ Naruto grumbled under his breath. The raven turned and began pecking and squawking at other ravens and Naruto figured that wasn’t Sasuke.

“How can I feel safe if I don’t know what he is disguised as?” Naruto then began to feel nervous. What was he thinking going to see the king for Sasuke?! What if he gets arrested? What if he is charged with impersonation and sentenced to death?! What if… A sharp bark broke him of his inner monologue of ‘what ifs’ to any impending dooms and Naruto stopped suddenly and saw a small dark brown shaggy dog staring at him. It’s tail bouncing back and forth in excitement, its pink tongue hanging from the side of its mouth. The dog had large brown eyes and a black moist nose and it gave another happy sounding bark at Naruto, tail whipping back and forth so fast the dog looked like it could fly. 

“Sasuke?” Naruto hissed out as he bent his knees to move closer to the ground. He clenched his teeth as his knees creaked, his one hand holding onto the top of his cane. “Are you Sasuke?” Naruto hissed out again, irritation heavy in his voice. The dog yipped again, still wagging its tail. “You came as a dog? Seriously? You couldn’t think of something, oh I don’t know, a little bit more inconspicuous?!” The dog continued to stare up at Naruto and wag its tail. Sighing, Naruto moved to stand up, leaning back slightly to get the crick out of his back, breathing out in relief before standing up straight again. He leaned slightly on his cane, placing a hand on his hip and tilting his head at the shaggy mutt at his feet. “Well, whatever. Let’s keep going.” Naruto straightened his hat over his gray hairs and continued towards the palace, the small mutt trotting beside him.

The iron gates began to come into view and Naruto felt thankful that the walk was almost over. His legs and feet were killing him!

“Well hello there little cobbler,” a voice sang out, sounding smug. 

Naruto didn’t stop walking. He knew that voice and he refused to be frightened. He glanced slightly to his right to see a small carriage being carried by black blob men. Naruto glared at the blobs. He understood now that nobody could see what the blobs really were, but Naruto knew they were just creations with no mind, no heart, no anything. Empty blotchy masses under the witch’s control. 

“Thank you for delivering my note to Sasuke,” the witch snickered out. “How is he doing?”

“He’s nothing but a hard ass. Works me to the bone as his cleaner,” Naruto snapped out as he continued to march towards the palace. He glanced slightly over to the small carriage where the wasteland witch was glaring at him with her lips in a sneer through a tiny window. He snorted, moving his eyes forward and continued to walk.

“Well what a perfectly good job for an old man like you,” the witch snorted out in amusement. “Looks like you are heading to the palace. Whatever for?” 

“I’m looking for work. I’m fed up working for Sasuke.” Naruto tried to make himself sound annoyed. “What do you want? Surely you have better things to do then spy on a helpless old man like me,” Naruto spat out. 

“Oh, I’m going to see the king. He sent me an invitation to see him today,” the witch gloated and looked at her nails. She tried to sound bored, like this was an everyday occurrence for her. “It’s about time that I’ve been identified and summoned. The king must have finally realized how important and powerful I am.” She continued to look at her nails and snorted towards Naruto. 

“If you’re so powerful, reverse this spell you cast on me witch,” Naruto spat out. He didn’t stop walking, he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing him have to stop and take a breather. 

“Oh so sorry,” the witch sarcastically gave a sad face, her voice laced with a mocking tone. “I’m afraid I’ve forgotten that particular spell. You see it’s so ancient that it’s rarely used, so...tsk, ask me another time when I’m in a better mood. Perhaps then.” The witch then let out a particularly loud cackle. “See you inside little cobbler!” She called out as the blobs quickened their step. 

Naruto shot the witch a glare, his hand grasping the head of his cane tight. “Who does she think she is, thinking she so  _ all that! _ ” Naruto heard a yip behind him and saw that Sasuke was still up with him. “And why didn’t you go and bite her or something? Some watch dog you are!” The shaggy brown dog yipped again, tail wagging happily as it trotted alongside Naruto towards the large iron gates.

Naruto saw the witch’s carriage go through the open gates, heading towards a tall set of steps that lead up to the mansion. Surprisingly, Naruto caught up to the carriage and he noticed that the black blobs carrying the carriage were shrinking. He could hear the witch cursing at her minions from the small window. Naruto passed the now stopped carriage without a second glance, heading for the steep steps. When he found himself at the first step, he turned to see the carriage still at the place it had stopped, the black blobs nowhere to be seen. The witch stepped out of her small carriage and straightened herself up straight while she frowned at what was left of her carriage.

“How dare there be a line drawn that cancels out magic!” The witch growled out. Her pink lips formed a snarl as she spoke. Her emerald green eyes glowed with irritation as she shot out glares to the various guards and footmen standing at the bottom of the stairs. 

“Come on now dear! Looks like it’s going to be a walk from here!” Naruto chuckled out slightly as he took the first step. The small shaggy dog yipped out in agreement. 

“How dare you mock me,” the witch seethed. She smoothed out her black dress and plumped up her breasts briefly before she began to walk forward. Her feather brimmed hat ruffled in the wind as she adjusted her fur shawl and swung her hips with each step. She pinched her lips together as she took in the steep stairs. 

“Better get started, I would offer to help but being so old, I can only manage myself!” Naruto called over his shoulder as he took each step carefully. He giggled to himself when he heard the witch cursing under her breath behind him. He balanced himself with his cane on each step, taking care not to lose his balance. 

He hesitated when he heard a whimper behind him. Glancing back he noticed the small brown dog on one of the steps, his small paws on a higher step with the rest of its body on the lower step. “What are you doing? Are you coming or not?” Naruto hissed out at the small dog. Large brown eyes looked up at Naruto with pity, slightly watering and his ears were sagging, his tail drooping. Naruto rolled his eyes. “You can’t be serious? You should be able to take these steps better than me!” The dog continued to whimper and moved his front paws back and forth across the step, making like it wasn’t able to jump it. Naruto sighed as he moved back down the few steps to the dog. Making his way behind the brown dog, he bent over and scooped up the mutt with two arms. “MMph! Sasuke you aren’t light you know!” Naruto hissed out in the dog’s ear. “I can’t believe you can’t make these simple steps!” Naruto grumbled as he now bow walked up the steps, taking more care to not lose his balance.

Halfway up the stairs Naruto put the dog down and then sat on a step, breathing heavily. He brought his arm up to wipe the sweat from his brow and looked down to see the witch struggling with the steps. He could see the sweat on her face, her teeth were clenched and her hair was plastered to her face. The large feather brimmed hat was sagging from the heat and it appeared the witch was getting larger and wider with each step! 

Amused somewhat, Naruto called out, “if you can reverse the spell, I can certainly come down and help you get to the top!” Naruto snorted out after his offer, the small dog yipping beside him what sounded like he was in agreement.

“Shut… _ *hah* _ ...the…* _ hah* _ ...hell up!” The witch snarled out. “I….been waiting…long time...” Breathy pants came from the witch’s mouth as she struggled to scold Naruto. 

Naruto took a closer look at the witch that seemed to be struggling. He suddenly felt guilty for teasing the witch. He wasn’t like that now was he? Of course not. Naruto had struggled most of his life and certainly he could recall getting teased and belittled. Here she was trying to climb the stairs in all her proud glory, but it seemed that the pride was slowly melting away and he was certain her size appeared to be growing larger. He ran a hand through his gray hair and gave his scalp a scratch giving a glance to the small dog at his feet. The dog tipped his head slightly, his ears perked slightly to listen with his bright round brown eyes looking up at Naruto, giving a questionable look. “Yeah, yeah, I totally shouldn’t be such a jerk eh?” Naruto gave a grin at the dog whos tail was now batting back and forth. “Well,” Naruto took a breath as he stood on his aching legs. “Let’s getter done.” Naruto scooped up the dog, balanced on his cane and began his climb again.

Reaching the top, Naruto dropped the dog carefully and leaned his weight on the cane, his breath coming out in short pants. He wiped the sweat at his hairline and turned to look down the steep steps. He gasped in surprise at the site of a heavy set woman, stretching the fabric of the once tight black dress that now highlighted and clung to several rolls of skin the protruded out. Her face shone from the sweat that was dripping down and rolled over several chins. Her cleavage appeared to have grown but now there was a huge valley between her breasts and Naruto could see the moisture soaking into her dress. Her hat was now flopped on either side of her head, the feathers no longer appeared light and flowing in the breeze. Instead of the glowing provocative woman that he first met, was now replaced with a heavy set chunky bulging older woman who was struggling to get up the final few steps.

“Hey, why don’t you help her!” Naruto yelled out at the few guards standing outside the heavy red doors. “She’s a guest invited by the king for fucks sakes! Show some respect!” Naruto shook his fists at the guards who only just glanced at him, then continued to ignore him. “Stupid no good stuck up guards,” Naruto grumbled as he turned to look down the slope of steps. The now large plump witch was just about to the top. “Come on now, you can do it,” Naruto encouraged.

“How…* _ hah*... _ the hell _ …*hah*... _ can you….* _ wheeze*.... _ still climb?” She blew out with a big breath before falling forward to her knees on the top of the steep steps. Her body was shaking from the stain as her breathing sounded wheezy and heavy. “How is it you have…* _ wheeze _ *...so much stamina!” The witch huffed out. “M-Maybe...I should have…* _ hah* _ ...made you older!” She fell to her knees, her arms coming out to catch herself before she hit the stone floor.

Naruto quickly went to her side, a look of worry etched his brow as he knelt down and looked beneath the weeping feather hat. “Hey, take it easy, you made it, just breath.” His hand on her shoulder, he could feel the heat rising from her skin, her muscles quivering from the strain. The shaggy dog sitting a ways away, watching the pair. The witch appeared to be too exhausted to throw any insults his way, thank goodness, and he continued to pat her shoulder in soft comforting pats. 

Several minutes past before the two were interrupted by a young boy standing before them. “Please follow me,” the boy bowed and spoke. Naruto helped the witch up, ensuring she was stable on her feet and the two followed the boy through the large red doors.

Naruto glanced inconspicuously around the corridor that he and the witch were being led own. It was as he expected for a mansion. Beautiful walls, drapes that matched and the decor was elegant. The young boy stopped at a double door, opened one and stepped back. He bowed and held his arm up, an obvious direction that the two were to enter. Naruto stopped at the open door and peered inside. The room was shaped into a square, no windows and just decorated as the corridor was.  _ ‘Hmph...what is the plan for us in here?’ _ he thought to himself, somewhat hesitant to go into the room that appeared to have no other exit. He did happen to notice a solitary chair in the middle of the room. 

“A chair! It’s mine!” a shrill of a voice came from behind him and Naruto found himself being shoved to the side. 

“Hey! What the…!” Naruto growled out as she struggled to find his footing from being shoved so harshly. He managed to see the large body, dressed in black go hobbling with speed towards the chair. “Have some manners for fucks sakes!” Naruto yelled at the witch who ignored him as she sat on the chair. She released a loud groan of satisfaction and Naruto swore she was melting into the chair. Naruto just tsk’d.

The door closed, startling Naruto, who turned to see that they were now both closed in the plain looking room. He turned slowly, taking in the room, finding that there were four sets of drapes, one on each wall. Was he wrong about there being no windows? His thoughts were startled when he heard a small yip from his feet. Glaring down, the shaggy brown dog sat with his tail thumping against the floor. “Sasuke!” Naruto hissed out quietly. “What are you doing in here? It isn’t safe for you to be in here!” The dog yipped and ran to one of the corners. “Sasuke! Wait,” Naruto hissed out again, trying to keep his voice low, so nobody would hear him calling out Sasuke’s name. He trotted after the brown shaggy dog and was surprised to see the mutt sniffing the floor near the corner. “Get back here!” Naruto’s eyes widened when a small panel of wall slid to the side and revealed another room.

“Well what the hell…” Naruto slowed as he noticed the dog ran through the opening. Naruto peered through the opening and let out a shriek when the same young boy was on the other side. 

“This way please sir,” the young boy spoke and bowed. 

“Huh…” Naruto huffed out. “You trying to lead me to my death or something?” 

“This way please sir,” the young boy spoke again.

“Just to warn you, I may be old, but I can still fight off what you throw me and my meat is tough!” Naruto through a warning glare at the boy while he stepped through the opening into another corridor. The door slid closed behind him. “Hey, what about her?” Naruto stopped suddenly, turning to see the door had already been closed.

“Do not worry sir, she will be safe.” The boy continued down the corridor, beckoning Naruto to follow. Naruto eyed the door again, feeling guilty for leaving the witch there, but what could he do? He turned and followed the young boy.

Turning a corner and going through another set of doors, Naruto could feel the moisture, warmth and it was bright like the sun as he walked on a path going between several large plants.  _ ‘Huh, it feels and looks like a solarium.’ _ Naruto inhaled deeply, picking up several scents of plants and flowers. It was almost soothing to be surrounded by warmth and tantalizing smells so Naruto bit the inside of his cheek to stay focused.

The path opened up to where a large stone floor patio area was nestled and surrounded by various tropical plants. The far wall was nothing but a wall of glass and behind it was a deep coloured green lawn with stone paths branching from a single door in the middle of the glass wall.The stone floor was designed and coloured to represent the sun. It was a beautiful piece of art and Naruto was almost scared to step on it. 

“Wait here please,” the young boy spoke out softly, holding his hand out to stop Naruto from walking. He then moved forward, stepping upon the design, his feet making a light tapping noise as he made his way towards the glass wall. It was then Naruto noticed that the young boy was walking across the stone art towards a large arm chair with a small table to the side. There was someone in the chair, but due to the chair facing more towards the window than the greenery, Naruto could only see the arm of someone. Naruto slowed his steps as he watched the young boy bow towards whomever was sitting in the chair.  _ ‘Was this the king?’ _ Nervousness twitched inside him at the thought that he was going to meet the king personally. 

The brown shaggy dog trotted after the young boy. “Sasuke!” Naruto hissed out in a whisper. “Get back here!” The dog ignored him and moved to the side of the large arm chair, turning a few times in a circle before laying down on the floor. Naruto was shocked that Sasuke would take such a bold move! What type of disguise was he thinking of? Did he really think that he could get away with that!? “Damn smart assed teme…” Naruto mumbled under his breath. It was then the young boy beckoned him closer. Wringing his hands slightly before grasping a good hold on his cane, he made his way towards the armchair and swallowed his nervousness the best he could by putting on a somber face.

“So, this is Sasuke’s father?” A slick voice purred out when Naruto came to stand before the armchair. The man had long silky long black hair that ended to his mid arm, his skin was practically white but smooth but his eyes had Naruto shivering. They gleamed a dark amber, it would almost be pretty, if it wasn’t for the slit like pupils in the middle. _‘Practically snake like…’_ Naruto thought to himself. _‘This is the king?’_ Naruto’s impression of a king certainly wasn’t like this. Weren’t kings somewhat _handsome?_ _Sophisticated looking?_ At least somewhat pretty so they _don’t scare_ children and women?

The man’s eyes squinted slightly, as if measuring Naruto up. Naruto gulped but held his ground. “Good morning your majesty, yes, I am Sasuke’s father.” Naruto hoped that his voice didn’t crack. 

“I see,” the man whispered out with a hiss. “Do have a seat, mister...?” The question was there as the man threaded his fingers together, tilting his head slightly waiting for Naruto to answer the question.

“Umino, sire,” Naruto sputtered out quickly before he could really think of a better answer. “Thank you for the seat sire,” Naruto turned to see the young boy bringing him a chair. His feet and legs relaxed instantly with a slight ache as Naruto relaxed into the chair.

“Well Mr. Umino, I am Orochimaru. I work in service for the king as his head sorcerer,” the man now known as Orochimaru hummed out while reaching for his cup. His hair was silky and sparkled off the sunbeams coming through the windows. “Now tell me what brings you here today?” Orochimaru settled his cup into his lap, his long fingers tapping at the sides of it, his yellow eyes boring into Naruto’s and lips pinched tight.

Naruto cleared his throat slightly. He refused to be intimidated by this person, even if he was a powerful sorcerer. “I’ve come in the place of my cowardly and incapable son.” Naruto kept his chin still, his eyes focused on Orochimaru’s nose, as he recalls that if you focus on the nose, then you don’t have to look into another person’s eyes. He only hoped he was sounding convincing enough.

Orochimaru’s head tilted slightly, his eyes flickered over Naruto’s face before giving out a loud sigh. “Oh, well that’s disappointing.” His shoulders fell slightly and Orochimaru’s eyes fell to look at the top of his cup, where his fingers began to trace the edge. “He was my last apprentice you see.” He hesitated slightly before looking back up at Naruto. “He used to be incredibly talented. So talented in fact, that I had hoped to offer him my position here with the king.”

Naruto gave a small gasp at that information.  _ Why would he want to give up such an admirable position like working for the king? _

“Sadly, his heart was stolen and he left. He began to use magic for his own selfish being.” Orochimaru let out a huff of air, as if showing how exhausted he was from talking. His eyes held Naruto’s form before bringing the cup up to his lips. “Mr. Umino,” he spoke after taking a drink.

“Hmm? Yes?” Naruto’s mind came back to the forefront. He still was trying to wrap his thoughts about Sasuke running away.

“Sasuke is too dangerous for the power that he possesses.”

Naruto’s eyes widened slightly at that proclamation.  _ Not Sasuke? He has shown nothing but control and passion for everyone around him! _

“Since his heart was stolen, he no longer has the strength to control the power within him. Do you understand?” Orochimaru moved his cup back to the side table, leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees while threading his fingers together. 

Naruto shivered slightly at the intense stare that Orochimaru was giving him. Could what he be saying true? He was Sasuke’s sensei at one time, he would know him best, wouldn’t he? Being a sorcerer for the king was a sign Orochimaru was powerful and wise, wasn’t it? Should he trust what Orochimaru had to say?

“Sasuke will become exactly like the Waste Land Witch if he does not come back to be treated and get his inner demon sealed,” Orochimaru spat out, sounding annoyed by the conversation. “Bring her in!” Orochimaru called out to the boys standing behind Naruto.

Naruto heard the commotion behind him and turned his head. He saw a heavy set elderly lady, covered in black type clothing and Naruto recognized the now drooping feathers, that rimmed the hat.  _ ‘What the hell?’  _ She was sitting like a large plump water balloon on a trolly and being pushed by two young boys towards them. The skin and fat on her face hung low, gravity pulling it down. Her green eyes looked dull and she now had more chins than should be allowed on a person.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Naruto stood quickly as he spat out at Orochimaru. He turned quickly to where the old witch was being pushed to and knelt before her. “Holy shit! What the hell did you do! She’s no longer the woman I came in with!” Naruto cursed out, pushing up the edge of the feathered hat to get a better look. His heart twisted seeing the once proud woman now broken before him.

“I only brought her back to her true age. She is alright,” Orochimaru’s voice was sounding bored. “She no longer has any magic power. She too used to be very talented in magic.” He continued on, crossing one of his legs over the other and settling his folded hands on his lap. “She continued to make deals with dark magic so that her body would be young, but exchanging pieces of her soul.”

Naruto felt sadness within him as he continued to look at the now much older lady. The woman was no longer youthful and vibrant. She looked to be something that washed up on the shoreline. All the spiritual and energy sucked out of her with just a husk of a person left behind. “Now what are you going to do with her? Leave her to be eaten by locusts?” Naruto put his hand on the old witch, giving her a squeeze, compassion in his eyes as he looked into the now dull green sad eyes.

“The kingdom is no longer allowing back alley wizards and witches to live unchecked,” Orochimaru hissed out. “You will tell Sasuke to come to me, be devoted to the king and I will help him get away from the demons that reside within him. If he does not, then I will take away all his power too! Just like _this_ _waste of flesh_ that is before you!” Orochimaru flung his hand out, pointing to the witch that sit defeated on the trolly.

Naruto clenched his fists suddenly. “Now I understand why Sasuke didn’t want to come here,” he growled through his clenched teeth. He grabbed his knees for balance as he made to stand up. His knees groaned but he ignored the discomfort of his old bones, for his anger was mounting. 

“Something is wrong here,” Naruto started, his eyes looking about the room. “You make two elderly people walk up a mile worth of stone steps without offering any help to them, even though you summoned them. We were led to a strange room like a trap!” Naruto then stood up straight, ignoring the popping of his spine. “Sasuke has no heart?” Naruto snorted out a half laugh. “In a way Sasuke can be a coward and selfish, and at times I can’t figure out what he’s really thinking,” Naruto grumbled out as he turned to look Orochimaru in the eye, his fists clenched at his side. 

“But I’ll tell you one thing,” he spat out with venom. “Sasuke is not evil or a demon. He just wants to have his freedom, he wants to not be under the control of anyone else, make his own choices for his own life and be able to have his own relationships!” Naruto felt an energy running through his body as he spoke valiantly about Sasuke. He had seen the effects on Sasuke as he struggled with the outside world, how people everywhere abused and used him. His heart felt Sasuke’s pain as he struggled. “He has a right to be his own person and he will  _ not be coming here! Believe it! _ ” Naruto shot out, stamping his foot to express his point. The energy that was flowing through him made him feel invincible and powerful enough to express what he knew was wrong. 

“Hmm...interesting,” Orochimaru gave a smirk and tapped his fingers together on his lap. His yellow eyes squinted slightly at the blond boy that appeared before him. The frustration radiated off the blond boy as he spoke gallantly about Sasuke. His gray hair disappeared and became blond, his wrinkles and age spots faded and youthful tanned skin appeared.  _ ‘True form is coming out I see. What a delicious young man.’ _ Orochimaru licked his lips as his eyes roamed the young man’s form. 

“Mr. Umino,” Orochimaru whispered out huskily and Naruto glared back at him. “You’re in love with Sasuke aren’t you?” His lips slipped into a sly grin as he watched the blond boy blink several times in surprise.

“Sasuke?! Sasuke’s coming!” A rugged shriek came from behind Naruto. “I want his heart! I need it!” She wailed out again.

“He’s not coming you!” Naruto hissed out behind him at the old woman on the trolly. “Just give up trying to get him already!”

“Oh I beg to differ. Sasuke will be coming,” Orochimaru chuckled out in a hiss.

A loud motorized noise hummed from outside and Naruto turned to the glass wall of windows to see a small flying machine with a man standing upon it, guiding it to the grass lawn. The man landed the machine, stepped off and made his way to the glass doors of the room. The man was handsome, gray hair styled under a hat and dressed in a uniform. The uniform with hat screamed authority, decked out with military styled fastenings. 

“Orochimaru! You should be in bed resting!” the man bellowed out as he entered into the sunned room. 

“Your majesty,” Orochimaru hummed out and nodded his head towards the handsome gentleman.

Naruto gasped at seeing the actual king enter the room. ‘ _ This was the king? Holy shit!’ _ Naruto felt himself tremble at seeing such authority. He had never been in the presence of royalty and knowing that this man was actually the king, he wasn’t sure if he should bow or fall to the floor head down.

“How are you feeling?” the king asked as he stopped to stand between Naruto and Orochimaru.

“I am feeling well your majesty,” Orochimaru hummed out again, his voice calm and considerate. “What brings you by your majesty?”

“I was bored with meetings so I decided to go for a fly! This war is getting bothersome!” the king waved his hand around. “Oh!” the king turned to see Naruto and the witch. “Who are these people?” 

“This is the wizard Sasuke’s father,” Orochimaru explained.

“Well! Really now!” The king beamed a smile at Naruto. “Well, I appreciate your efforts Orochimaru, but I have decided that I will not be using magic in this war. In fact, I plan to meet with my officials and discuss ending it!” The king exclaimed, moving his body to face the windows, placing his hand on his hips.

Naruto gasped again for what felt like the hundredth time hearing what the king just said. Could this war finally be settled and people be free?

“Orochimaru!” a voice bellowed from the other side of the room. Naruto whipped his head around to see the exact same man just appear through the greenery.  _ ‘What the…?’ _

“Yes your majesty?” Orochimaru purred out. His eyes never left the king that was standing before him and looking towards the ‘other king’ that just entered the room.

“We are finally getting to the final battle! We will get them this time Orochimaru, for sure!” the other king called out as he walked towards Orochimaru. He stopped suddenly beside the chair, eyes wide as he took in the ‘other king’. Naruto stepped back in shock when the king that stopped started laughing loud and hard.

“Oh my god! That’s the best double of me that you have done so far Orochimaru! Great job! Keep up the good work!” He continued to laugh as he turned to head back where he came from. “I’m off to meet with the generals! I’ll let you know how it goes later!” And with that, the king was suddenly gone.

“It's been awhile Sasuke,” Orochimaru purred out.

“I’m pleased to see you again master,” Sasuke bowed briefly towards Orochimaru.

“I knew it was you,” Orochimaru responded, his voice low and his lips curled up into a smirk.

“I won’t fight against you master,” Sasuke murmured. “I’ll be leaving now, with my father.” Sasuke stepped back to stand beside the now gray haired old man. 

Naruto watched the interaction between the two. The energy he felt earlier when facing off to Orochimaru was gone and he felt frail and tired again. But when Sasuke stepped back to stand beside him, he was now back to looking like himself, black hair, smooth marble skin and all, but still dressed in military clothing. Naruto then looked to the brown shaggy dog that still lay beside the chair of Orochimaru.  _ ‘That wasn’t Sasuke all along? Then who?’ _ Suddenly Naruto felt stupid for talking to a dog all this time thinking it was Sasuke but the dog must have belonged to Orochimaru! To many thoughts were running through his head and he slumped suddenly, feeling exhausted, but Sasuke’s strong arm wrapped around him, holding him close.

“I’m afraid I can’t allow you to leave Sasuke-kun,” Orochimaru purred out. “Why don’t you show  _ your father  _ your real identity?” He smirked when Sasuke scowled back at him. 

A haze began to engulf the room and Naruto felt the air being sucked from his lungs. He saw Orochimaru and Sasuke’s eyes locked on each other, as if daring each other to make the first move. Naruto glanced around, the haze was getting thicker and the room began to look as if it were wet paint running, dripping and mixing together, beginning to swirl around them. 

“Sasuke! No! Don’t look at him!” Naruto tried to grab Sasuke’s chin to get him to look away but struggled to reach up. “Sasuke! Wait!” Sasuke’s eyes continued to stare at Orochimaru.

The room began to spin around them, as if they were in the middle of a vortex. The colours of the room combined and a humming noise started up, getting louder as the speed of the vortex of colours got faster. 

Naruto could feel the vibration in his ears as the humming noise got louder and louder. His teeth clamped tight as he fought the need to cover his ears. The pain in his ears from the vibrations was growing the more the colours swirled and the hum excelled. He struggled against the sudden wind building in the vortex as he tried to grab hold of Sasuke's coat. Fear began to rise within him as he realized he was caught between two extremely powerful wizards locked in a magic battle. How would he get himself out of this alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope this was enjoyable. I am having great fun making this into a Sas/Nar fic :D
> 
> Be well and keep smiling everyone!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, since I'm home from gallivanting around, I wanted to get more chapters out.
> 
> Enjoy :D

“Sasuke! Don’t look!” Naruto finally managed to wrap his arms around Sasuke’s shoulders and grab handfuls of his hair, pulling Sasuke’s head to look down at him. Black feathers were erupting from Sasuke’s hair and body, but Naruto didn’t give up. “Sasuke!” he yanked and deep coal coloured eyes shifted to look into Naruto’s eyes. The eyes immediately softened when they saw him and Naruto breathed a sudden sigh of relief.

“Hold onto me,” Sasuke whispered in Naruto’s ear.

Naruto grasped onto Sasuke’s body tightly, feeling the winds whip at his clothing and hair, the deafening humming noise piercing his ears. He closed his eyes when he buried his face into Sasuke’s chest. The feathers that were sprouting were now falling off and being swept away into the swirling vortex of winds. 

Naruto gasped out in fear as he felt a sudden weight pulling on his leg.  _ Had the wizard grabbed him? Was he going to be swept away into an unknown?  _ He opened his eyes to see that there was no floor, he and Sasuke were high in the sky and his fear skyrocketed. Looking at his leg, he saw the witch holding onto his leg and the shaggy mutt being held onto by the witch!  _ ‘Oh no! They’re going to fall!’  _ Naruto reached down to try and grab the witch’s hand, suddenly terrified that they were all going to fall to their deaths.

“I won’t let you go, don’t worry,” Sasuke called out.

“But what about them!” Naruto yelled out over the galing winds and humming noise. He continued to try and reach down for the old witch.

Sasuke didn’t answer. His one hand reached over, stretching between the air waves, as if he was trying to capture the golden ring on a carousel. Naruto felt his grip slipping and he began to panic. He reached harder still, trying to grab the old witch, gritting his teeth and stretching his fingers out. His other hand began to tremble as his old fingers began to loosen with the strain. “No! No! Come on!” he yelled through the deafening noise around him. His mind shrieked when his fingers finally gave up on holding onto Sasuke no more. Naruto couldn’t help but close his eyes and wait for the inevitable. 

Silence.

The darkness around Naruto was silent and still.  _ ‘Is this death? This quiet black desolate place where I am destined to be in my death?’ _

A deep chuckle resonated from the depths and a soft baritone voice spoke out. “No, you are definitely not dead. Open your eyes.”

Naruto whipped his head towards the sound of Sasuke speaking. He opened his eyes that he didn’t realize were closed. The light was bright and he squinted slightly, waiting for his eyes to get used to the bright.

“W-where am I?” Naruto coughed out as the colours of the world began to come into focus. 

“You’re still with me. You did wonderful,” Sasuke’s voice softly called out from beside him.

Naruto looked about.  _ ‘Oh...I’m still in Sasuke's arms. We are above gardens...is that, is that the king’s mansion?’ _ Naruto looked below him, still no floor, but he and Sasuke were now floating slowly down to the flying machine that Sasuke had originally flown to the mansion. 

“The witch! Where is she!?” Naruto panted out in fear, clenching Sasuke’s coat tight with his fingers. ‘ _What if she fell to her death?!_ _It was all his fault if she perished!’_ His heart slammed in his chest as he forced himself to look below him, terrified of what he might see! 

To his surprise, the witch who was holding the mutt, was still grasping his leg and walking on the air like they were on the ground. Naruto’s eyes widened as the green eyes sparkled when she looked up at him. She gave him a grin and the brown shaggy mutt yipped and wagged its tail. 

“Sasuke! Are you doing this?” Naruto looked back up to see Sasuke’s firm jaw line, the smooth skin of his neck outlining the muscle structure that ran down into the collar of his shirt. He saw the subtle smile on his perfect lips before he glanced down to look upon Naruto. Dark eyes glistened with softness and Naruto felt himself swallow hard at the intensity of the stare.

“It was you that saved me,” he gave a grateful smile before he looked past Naruto. “Here we are, hold on.”

Naruto felt the world slow down as the witch, holding the mutt, landed first on the back seat of the flying machine. Sasuke, still holding tightly around Naruto’s waist, floated the both of them to the front of the flying machine, Naruto landing directly in the driver’s seat.

“We need to get out of here.” Sasuke waved his hands over the controls and the machine buzzed to life instantly. “Hold on tight! We’re off!” 

Naruto grabbed the steering wheel hard, as he felt the machine vibrate beneath them, then his stomach threatened to lose whatever it had in it at the pull of the gravity. He felt the wind blow through his hair as the machine took him higher. “Oh my god, Sasuke, Sasuke SASUKE! I hate heights!” Naruto bellowed out, pulling his body into the wheel and wrapping his arms around it. The flying machine did not have any side walls, it was like sitting on a giant bug and hanging on for dear life.

“Don’t worry, you’re doing fine! We need to get out of here though, they’re coming!” Sasuke pointed behind him and Naruto dared to peek over his shoulder. There were several flying machines giving chase behind them and Naruto knew that it was the king’s men coming for them. 

Sasuke leaned over Naruto’s shoulder, his hand placed gently on Naruto and gave him an encouraging squeeze. “You’re going to fly back to the waste land okay?”

“What!? Are you insane!? I can’t fly! Hell, I can’t even drive!” Naruto cried out in disbelief! His eyes pleaded with Sasuke’s deep coal ones.

Sasuke squeezed Naruto’s shoulder again and leaned closer to Naruto’s ear. “I believe in you,” he whispered. 

Naruto shivered. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the cool wind blowing past him or… He turned his head to find his nose almost touching Sasuke’s. Those cool almond shaped eyes held him still and he was so close that he could see Sasuke’s pupils, that normally blended in with the dark colour of his iris. Sasuke’s face crinkled slightly as he gave him a smile. Naruto felt his breath taken from him by the smile that was presented to him.

Sasuke stood and looked behind him. “I can give you five minutes to get away. I’m going to lead them away and you keep flying to the waste land okay?” 

“I-I don’t know how to get there,” Naruto called out. He grasped the wheel hard, willing himself to know he could do this. 

Sasuke placed his hand on Naruto’s right hand. Naruto's heart jumped as he felt the heat from Sasuke. “Did you forget the ring I gave you?” Sasuke’s fingers dragged across Naruto’s, leaving sparks of electricity at each touch. Naruto found it difficult to focus on Sasuke pointing to the ring that Sasuke had put on his hand not a few hours ago. “It will lead you the way to the castle and to Chiyo. Just call Chiyo.”

_ ‘Just call to Chiyo?’ _ Naruto thought to himself, staring at the ring. The ring gave a bright flash before shooting off a blue beam stretching out across the lands coming from the jewel.  _ ‘Woah...it worked!’ _

“Head the direction the light is pointing!” Sasuke called out. 

Naruto grinned, feeling more comfortable holding the wheel and guiding the flying machine in the direction of the light. “You know, I didn’t have to go to the king’s mansion if you were ending up there anyhow! Feels like I wasted my time you know!” Naruto didn’t know why he was bringing this up now, of all times, but just felt the need he had too.

“I did it because you were there, Naruto,” Sasuke’s voice was soft and rich sounding. 

Naruto felt himself blush, even with the cold wind whipping at his face.

“I couldn’t have been there if I had been without you,” Sasuke added. “You saved me Naruto. I was so close to being lost under Orochimaru’s magic.” 

Naruto shivered slightly as Sasuke’s words vibrated through him, recalling what they had just narrowly escaped. His hands slipped from the wheel when the images of the vortex flashed through his mind.

“Hey hey! Don’t let go of the wheel!” Sasuke called out quickly and grabbed the wheel. Shaken from his thoughts, Naruto quickly steadied the machine and himself.

Sasuke chuckled suddenly. “You know, you drive very well.” His smile was soft and kind. Naruto just frowned at him in response. “Okay, as I said, I’m going to blind them to you for about 5 minutes. You’ll have that time to fly home and you should get there sometime tonight! Good luck!” 

Naruto gasped as he felt a sudden jolt and the machine jumped up slightly. He looked behind him and saw a vision of Sasuke, himself at the wheel, with the witch and dog on the back. Sasuke was waving and the vision took off in an opposite direction. Naruto looked at himself and found that he, along with the machine and others, were transparent. They were invisible!  _ ‘Wow, this is what he meant! What awesome magic!’ _ Naruto grinned and turned back to face the front, flying the machine in the direction of the beam of light. This wasn’t so bad after all!

==/\/\==

_ *back at the castle* _

“Well, that was an interesting visit,” Orochimaru hummed out. His head resting on his hand as he stared out the window from his sitting chair.

“Sasuke escaped didn’t he Orochimaru-sama?” a young boy whispered out as he poured Orochimaru more tea into his cup.

Orochimaru grinned and then snorted out a laugh. “No. Not at all. Sasuke may believe he has successfully escaped, but he couldn’t be more wrong.” His yellow eyes glanced at the young boy, a look of amusement. 

“His father looked rather young, wouldn’t you say Orochimaru-sama?” the boy asked as he placed the teapot on a trolly.

Orochimaru looked back out the window again, a gleam in his eyes. “Yes, yes he was.” He watched as the storm lit up the gardens when a flash of lightning would happen. “I would very much like to invite that  _ father _ over again soon. Make sure you find him as soon as possible.” 

“Yes Orochimaru-sama,” the young boy bowed, pushed his glasses up his nose and left the room.

==/\/\==

The rain fell hard and cold against Naruto’s face and fingers. His fingers ached from clenching the wheel of the flying machine so tight, but the beam of light never wavered and shone strong. Naruto wiped his drenched gray hair from his face and looked behind him. The old witch had brought her cloak up high around her neck, pulling on the string to make it tight. Her feathered brimmed hat was flopped on all sides, the feathers looking like wet strings, dripping constantly of water. “You okay back there?!” Naruto called out over the sounds of thunder and falling rain. A hand appeared from under the cloak and tipped up a corner of the drenched hat. Naruto saw green eyes and then a brown muzzle pop out from beneath the cloak. The witch pointed a thumbs up and the dog yipped before the hand and dog disappeared beneath the cloak again. Naruto’s teeth chattered when he gave a smile to the two behind him before focusing again to the front.

_ ‘How much longer? I don’t know how much longer I can do this!’ _ Naruto’s teeth continued to chatter and his eyes scoped out below through the dark veil of night. He saw twinkling lights of towns below him and thought about how all the people must be tucked into their homes with warm fires going. His eyes widened slightly at a familiar sight. 

“I see the castle! Over there!” Naruto called out, his heart getting excited that he would finally be out of the rain.

Sure enough, he could see the glowing from behind the windows situated high in the air, small puffs of smoke coming from the many chimneys and the outline of the moving beast with each flash of lightening. 

“Chiyo! Chiyo we’re coming!” Naruto called out, waving his arm as if the beast could see them. The blue light shone strong towards the moving beast until the large moving house beast puffed out steams of smoke and came to a stop. The flying machine heading straight for it.

“Holy shit! How do I land?!” Naruto screeched out. “Chiyo! I don’t know how to land this thing!” Frantically Naruto began looking around the flying machine’s blinking lights and switches, looking for anything that may look like a landing button. He quickly realized, there was nothing on the machine that he could understand. “Ahhh ssssshhhhhhiiii--” His voice trailed off as the machine dove straight for the side of the moving beast. Naruto closed his eyes.

A throbbing pain in his back side, a few burning sensations on his hands and arms, and the unmistakable feeling of being cold and wet, was all Naruto felt. He knew his eyes were closed, but he listened to his surroundings before daring to open his eyes. 

“Grandpa! Grandpa! Can you hear me!?” a frantic voice called out from the darkness and Naruto immediately recognized it as Gaara. Naruto moaned out a noise. “Grandpa! Don’t move! I’m coming over!” 

Naruto listened to the sound of rubble being moved about and he wondered briefly why there would be a sound like that.  _ ‘Oh…’ _ Naruto recalled.  _ ‘Flying, raining, seeing the giant beast, then what? Oh right...crashing.’  _ Naruto tested movement by wiggling his fingers and toes first. 

“Okay! I’m here! Can you move? Can I help you? Are you bleeding? Grandpa!” Gaara’s voice was sounding more frantic and terrified with each question.

“Oi Oi Gaara,” Naruto moaned out. “Stop with so many questions,” Naruto moved his head to Gaara’s voice, peeling open his eyes. He saw red hair, concerned eyes surrounded by a warm glow. Naruto moved his hand up to cup Gaara’s face. “I’m alright, just help me up.” Gaara visibly relaxed and began to move debris away from Naruto’s body before trying to help him up. Naruto verbally expressed the distress of the movement, but grit his teeth through it to at least sit up. When he looked around him, he was shocked to see the mess.

Brick, wood, furniture and dishes were broken all around him. He was in the main room and currently sitting where the dining table used to be. He glanced over quickly and sighed out in relief when he saw Chiyo still flaming in her fireplace. Gaara brushed more dust and wreckage off his legs so Naruto could get up. With Gaara’s help, Naruto got his old body to stand in the middle of the debris. 

“Aw man, who’s gonna clean this mess up!?” Naruto groaned out, dragging a hand through his sopping wet hair. His body shivered hard when he realized he was still soaking wet. “Oh my god Gaara! Where is…?” Naruto whipped his head around quickly, trying to find the witch.

“The other old lady? She’s over there,” Gaara tapped Naruto’s arm and pointed to a couch that was by Chiyo’s fireplace. On the couch was the waste land witch and the brown shaggy mutt. 

“Oh thank heavens you're safe,” Naruto breathed out.

“You brought the waste land witch here! Are you crazy!?” Chiyo cried out, her flame sputtering up and sparking. Naruto frowned at the flame.

“Thank you for catching us Chiyo,” Naruto thanked the sparking flame. “And you too Gaara,” Naruto turned a gave him a warm smile. 

“I’m so glad your home grandpa!” Gaara grabbed Naruto’s waist and hugged him tight. “I was worried about you!”

Naruto smiled softly and ran his aged fingers through Gaara’s red wild locks. “I was worried about you too little one.” 

“And nobody cares about me I see,” Chiyo spat out, her voice sounding like she was giving a pout. Naruto chuckled and looked over at the flame. Her eyes were glaring out but Naruto knew that she was just pouting. 

“And thank you again Chiyo. Without you, this moving beast wouldn’t be as magnificent as it is now.” Naruto waved his hand out to the room. He grinned when he caught Chiyo puffing up her flames and he swore he saw a grin in the flames.

“Is she really the waste land witch grandpa?” Gaara looked up Naruto, releasing his hugging grip only slightly so he could see him.

Naruto nodded his head with a soft smile. “Yes, she is, but she is no longer a threat.”

“Is she staying with us? Is she joining our family?” Gaara’s teal eyes were wide with question and curiosity.

“Well,” Naruto pulled a finger up to his chin and looked away as if he was thinking hard about it. Gaara just continued to watch, his body jumping slightly with anticipation. “I think we should ask her first.” 

“Yay!” Gaara exclaimed and climbed through the debris to where the old witch was sitting. “What do you say lady? Will you be staying with our family? Oh! And is this your dog? Can he stay too grandpa?” The shaggy brown mutt wagged his tail and yipped before letting lose it’s tongue on Gaara’s face, causing Gaara to fall onto his butt to the floor, laughing all the while.

Naruto carefully stepped through the rubble and sat beside the witch. He grabbed her hand when her wide green eyes looked at him. “Of course you can stay, if you want. But I would like to know your name. Can’t call you old lady all the time!” Naruto chuckled as he clenched both his hands on the witch’s one hand.

Green eyes blinked in surprise before her soft small lips gave a smile. “I was once called Sakura.” 

“Well Sakura-chan, welcome to the family.” Naruto gave her a broad grin before getting up from the couch. “It’s very late, we are all very cold and wet, I suggest we get settled into bed and clean this mess up tomorrow.”

==x00x00x00x00x00x==

Sunlight streamed through the hole in the wall of the great beast, highlighting the areas that were in disarray. The beams shone on the rubble of brick, glass, and wood splinters littered all over the room. Chiyo’s small flame began to flicker to life, a yawn echoing from the pit of flames. A hurried sound of steps came down from above rushing to Chiyo’s side.

“Good morning Chiyo,” Gaara expressed. “Anyone up yet?” 

“Of course not! Shouldn’t be long though with a loud mouth like you running amuck!” Chiyo snapped out. The snaps and cracks echoing through what was left of the log that she burnt beneath her.

Gaara ignored the sharp comments and moved to where the others were sleeping. Stepping over the bricks and wood, he could see that the witch,  _ no Sakura-chan _ , was beginning to stir from the couch. The shaggy brown mutt was at her feet and opened his muzzle, realising a yawn mixed with a howl. Gaara bypassed the two and made his way to the curtained off area near the stairs. He knew that is where grandpa Naruto slept.

Gaara knocked on the side door frame. “Grandpa? Are you awake yet?” he called out loud enough to be heard. He frowned when he didn’t hear any response.  _ ‘He has never not said anything any other morning.’ _ Gaara tapped again, calling out once again. Cautiously he decided to look past the curtain. The area was dark but sunlight went through the opening of the curtain when Gaara looked down. “Grandpa?” he whispered. He could see the blond hair but the blanket was pulled down to his waist and he could see the blond shivering heavily. Tenderly he reached out and touched Naruto’s shoulder. He gasped, pulling his hand back as if he was burned. He retreated quickly and stepped over to Chiyo.

“He’s hot! He’s shaking and not waking up!” Tears welled in his eyes as he pleaded to the small flickering flame.

Chiyo flickered about slightly as Gaara waited on her to respond. “Hmm, most likely got a fever from being so wet and cold last night. Hmph, figures.” Her flame briefly flared up. “Get me another log or two and Chiyo will tell you what to do.” Gaara nodded, wiping away at his eyes before turning and getting a couple logs.

==/\/\==

Sasuke had returned later that morning. Walking through the door, he immediately panicked seeing the hole in the wall, the debris around the room and no Naruto. His mind came up with scenarios of Orochimaru infiltrating his home, securing Naruto and Gaara, dragging them away to someplace he would not be able to find them. 

“Chiyo! Gaara! Anyone! Are you here!?” Sasuke had called out quickly and frantically, stepping around the broken bricks and wood, heading towards the fireplace.

“Master Sasuke! Here!” Gaara called from across the room. Sasuke headed straight for the voice and saw Gaara sitting on a chair outside of Naruto’s sleeping area. 

“Gaara! What happened?!” Sasuke called out, his voice thick with worry.

Gaara quickly explained, pointing to Chiyo, Sakura-chan and the dog, and finishing off with how he was caring for Naruto since early morning. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief that the warzone in his front room was from them arriving home but was worried about Naruto’s health and stood to look in on the man. A sharp pain went through his heart as he looked upon pale skin, soaked hair and hearing the raspy breathing coming from pale lips.

_ ‘Oh god, what have I done?’ _ Sasuke fell to his knees next to Naruto, placing his hand under the soaked gray locks to test the man’s temperature. Sasuke hissed out as his hand felt the extreme heat radiating off Naruto.

“Chiyo says the fever is probably from the chill from being in the rain last night. They were soaked to the bone master!” Gaara explained in a whisper. “I’ve been trying to get him to take some herbs with tea, but he won’t wake long enough to do so master!” Gaara’s voice cracked as he struggled not to cry. 

_ ‘Fuck! It’s all my fault!’ _ Sasuke dropped his forehead into his hand, then ran his fingers through his dark locks slowly, willing himself to calm down and think rationally.  _ ‘Soaking wet, cold, of course he would get a fever. Depending on how long he was in it, would determine the level of chill and if his body could fight…’ _

“Gaara, warm up the tea again and I will prepare the medicinal herbs.”

“Yes master!” Gaara quickly stepped through the debris towards what was left of the kitchen.

“Naruto. Naruto,” Sasuke whispered out, running his palm down the pale but heated scarred cheek. Naruto’s skin was pale, yes, but the curse that ran through his body lifted slightly in his illness induced sleep. Sasuke could see past the age spots and wrinkles, and blond hair ran in streaks through the gray. “Come on Naruto, wake up. You need to take some medicine now,” Sasuke hummed out softly. His heart fluttered out when he saw eyelids pinch, eyebrows furrow and a croaked moan break through the soft dry lips. “That’s it Naruto, wake up.” Sasuke’s heart sped up again as eyelids opened slightly and he could see the cerulean colour peek up at him. “I’m making you some medicine, but you are going to have to sit up to take it, okay?” Naruto’s eyes didn’t focus on him, but they remained staring blank.  _ ‘Good enough,’  _ Sasuke thought to himself as he now ran his palm over Naruto’s forehead. “I’ll be back,” Sasuke whispered and he stood up, making his way to the shelves in his tall upboard to begin making the medine.

==/\/\==

Naruto felt heavy. His skin felt sensitive everywhere, and anything that touched it felt like it burned. His hearing sounded like he was under water. A pain pounded with his heart beat in his head and a moan gathered in his throat. Moving his arms felt as if he were holding weights and moving them was a struggle.

“Hush now, no need to move,” a voice called out to him. The voice was soothing and calm. Naruto tried to turn his head towards the soothing voice, but his body screamed at him at every twitch. “You’re safe, just rest now.” Naruto couldn’t fight the voice, thus he let himself fall back into sleep.

Sasuke pulled the sheet back up to Naruto’s chin then placed a palm on his forehead.  _ ‘He’s still quite warm. He will need some time.’ _ Sasuke breathed out a sigh, watching the blond’s chest rise and fall rhythmically, noting that he was in deep sleep and no longer sounding raspy. At least he was able to get some medicine into him earlier and it was working, as he knew it would.

He stepped out from the sleeping area, closed the curtain and glanced around the room. The witch sat on the couch sipping tea near the fireplace, the shaggy mutt at her feet, curled up and napping. “Well Chiyo, let's get this cleaned up shall we?” Sasuke slapped his hands together, rubbing them together rapidly. 

“Hmph, what’s this  _ we  _ talk brat? It’s always me doing all the work!” Chiyo’s flame flared up and crackling was heard from the logs.

Sasuke gave a chuckle as he began to move his hands in various movements. A blue fog began to rise and circle around him, twirling up and causing his hair to rise up. His face was stern and dark eyes focused forward. As the wind and fog rotated around him, the bricks, broken wood and glass began to lift, repair as if going back in time and secured back to where they came.

Gaara sat on the couch next to the witch, his mouth in an  _ O,  _ his teal eyes wide in awe. The witch looked on bored, sipping at her tea, while various articles zoomed throughout the room, attaching to where they belonged. Chiyo’s flames danced and sparked as the magic electrified the room and she laughed out as if someone told her a good joke.

With a final popping noise, the room was back to how it once was and the winds surrounding Sasuke began to diminish slowly until the blue fog was absorbed back into Sasuke’s pores.

“Wow master!” Gaaa exclaimed suddenly. “But master, is grandpa okay?” Gaara glanced at the still closed curtain.

“Don’t worry Gaara, he is just fine and the medicine is working.” Now, why don’t you tell me who has joined our family?” Sasuke walked over to Gaara and knelt before him, his eyes gazing at the witch on the couch. 

“This is Sakura-chan master. She used to be the waste land witch, but grandpa says she isn’t anymore. And I don’t know if he has a name,” Gaara pointed at the shaggy brown dog sitting at the witch’s feet. The dog’s tongue was hanging from it’s muzzle and it looked back and forth between Sasuke and Gaara.

“Guess you will have to come up with a name then for him,” Sasuke patted on Gaara’s knee as he raised up. 

“Then he can stay master?” Gaara’s teal eyes looked up at Sasuke.

“Of course. Now I’m going to check on Naruto, then you can get Sakura-chan settled into her new room that I have added.” He gave a nod to Gaara and turned to head over to the curtain. 

“Okay! Come with me Sakura-chan, let’s find your room.” 

“What a handsome man,” Sakura stated as she watched Sasuke walk across the room. Her lips curled up slightly into a smile before she got up from the couch, Gaara pulling at her hand. 

==x00x00x00x00x00x==

Blue eyes blinked rapidly before hands came up to rub the sleep from them. Glancing around, Naruto noticed that he was in his small cubby hole in the moving beast, the curtain drawn. Judging by the amount of light in the area, the sun was up and he could hear the quiet talking of Gaara behind the curtain. 

_ ‘How long have I been asleep?’ _ Naruto stretched his legs and winced slightly feeling the ache in his knees. He felt dirty and sticky. He brought his arms out to stretch up and noticed bandages on various areas on his arms.  _ ‘What’s this?’  _ His eyes studied the bandages.  _ ‘Oh yes, the crash. The crash left some scratches on me, I remember. Oh! The mess! What will Sasuke think when he sees it? Will he kick me out? Of course he doesn’t want someone living here that is breaking down his house!’ _ Naruto scratched his scalp. “Stupid. He knew I couldn’t fly, what did he expect?” he mumbled to himself while moving to sit up. He moaned slightly as his body let him know that it didn’t appreciate him moving quickly. “Curse you old body, give me a break!” he cursed out.

A soft knock came from behind the curtain. “Grandpa? Are you awake?”

“Yes Gaara, I’ll be out in a moment thank you,” Naruto answered with a smile.  _ ‘What a good kid. He’ll make a good wizard someday.’  _ He managed to slowly sit up and get his body to cooperate to a stand. He noticed he was in his sleeping clothes, but they stunk like he had worn them for a week.  _ ‘Pew! I stink! No wonder I feel gross. Better have a bath after I see what the damage is.’ _

Naruto poked his head out of the curtain, and he couldn’t hold back the surprised gasp at the site. The whole room had been completely repaired and had subtle changes. Chiyo still crackled in the fireplace, the dining table looked bigger and had more chairs. The sofa now had another one across from it, a small coffee table in the middle.  _ ‘What the hell happened here?’  _ Naruto stepped out fully.

“Grandpa! You’re finally awake!” Gaara called from the kitchen table where he was eating. “Come, I’ve made breakfast.” 

Naruto slowly walked to the table, settling on a chair and seeing that indeed, Gaara did make breakfast of sliced bread, sliced cheese and slices of ham. Tomatoes were also sliced on a dish and a small dish of raisins.

“Chiyo still won’t cook for me,” Gaara pouted.

Naruto just smiled softly, nodding his head. “You did a fine job Gaara,” he praised. “I’m going to have a quick bath, then I will come and eat.” Gaara smiled at him and Naruto made his way up the stairs carefully, his knees a little shaky, feeling like he hadn’t walked on them for days.

After his bath, Naruto felt better, more refreshed and hungry. He managed to make toast with the slices of bread and got Chiyo to cook up some bacon. Toasted bacon and tomato sandwiches were always a nice treat. He listened quietly while sipping his tea as Gaara explained what happened after he crashed through the house. Naruto found himself nodding and humming a lot during the story, but most of all surprised at what Sasuke had done for the new home residents and caring for him while he was sick. Naruto did gasp out loud when Gaara told him he had been asleep for two whole days! 

Blowing out a raspberry in exasperation, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and gave a sheepish grin to Gaara. “Well, I must say that was quite the adventure we all had. Where is Sasuke now?” 

“Oh he left the other day after you were better. Master never says where he is going, but I bet it has something to do with the war.” Gaara’s eyes looked at his lap, his lips giving a sad frown. 

Naruto’s heart went out to the young lad. “Well Gaara, let’s take the day off!” He grinned when Gaara looked over at him, teal eyes wide in surprise. “Chiyo, can you take us to the lake?” 

“Phht. What do you think I am, a delivery wagon?” Chiyo snapped out in response.

==/\/\==

Naruto leaned back in his chair that was settled on the rocky shore of the lake. The lake was calm, the sky was cloudless and Gaara had brought out a small table for tea and cookies beside him. He let out a relaxing sigh, pulled his jacket over his shoulders a little more as he sipped at some hot green tea. The sun was starting to get deeper into the western sky, but Naruto just couldn’t find himself to move yet.

He looked over to the other side of the table to find Sakura-chan in her own large chair, looking over the same lake. Her once pink hair was now a dull gray, like his, and her skin was light in colour but had the same aged spots dotting her neck and face, as Naruto knew he also had. He let out a sad sigh and turned his head to see Gaara.

Gaara was throwing a stick for the mutt, who was now named Kiba. Naruto snorted.  _ ‘Funny name for a dog, but meh.’  _ His eyes softened while watching the boy and the dog. ‘ _ How Gaara certainly has changed from the grumpy type old man he pretended to be, to acting the age he really is.’  _ Naruto smiled slightly at that thought. 

A shuffle of noise to the side of him caught his attention and Naruto saw the tall scarecrow. “Good day pumpkin head! It’s good to see you out and about!” Naruto beamed up at the scarecrow. “I was worried for a bit that you were stuck somewhere again. But thankfully, here you are.” The scarecrow bounced up and down with more enthusiasm. 

Booms echoed in the distance and Naruto looked to the sky. Not a cloud was to be seen. He frowned. Explosions sounded off again and Naruto realized what the noise was. “Damn war,” he muttered. “When will they realize that nobody wins.” He leaned back, crossed his arms and moved his gaze to back over the lake, watching as the sun slowly moved into the horizon.  _ ‘Should start to move back inside I guess,’ _ he thought. But he couldn’t find himself to move for another 30 minutes. 

==/\/\==

_ Later that night... _

A door slammed. Naruto’s eyes flickered open. The dragging of feet on the floor resounded off the walls. Naruto turned his head towards the sound from his bed. 

“Oh you’ve really done it this time.” A hushed whisper that Naruto knew was Chiyo. Heavy panting was the response. “You’re doing too much!” Chiyo’s voice was low but sounding more frantic. A low growling and huffing was the response. Naruto sat up quickly. Dragging feet sounds went right by his curtain and down the hall.

Naruto quickly got out of his bed, grabbing his sleep pants to put on over his boxers. He tripped through the curtain to see Chiyo’s flames twisting.

“Is Sasuke back?” Naruto asked out to the flame, his blue eyes looking desperately around the room.

Chiyo’s flame didn’t change. Sad eyes looked over at Naruto. “Yes, and it isn’t good. He’s gone to far and may not be able to come back.”

“Is he hurt?” Naruto stepped over to the fireplace, kneeling before the small flame.

“Possibly, but I don’t know for sure.” 

Naruto stood up and looked to see black feathers leaving a trail towards the hall. He began to step after them after grabbing a small oil lamp to give him light. 

“It’s not safe child!” Chiyo called out after him. Naruto didn’t respond and followed the feathers.

Naruto walked the hall, and noticed the feathers went into Sasuke’s room. He pressed his ear against the door but didn’t hear anything. Slowly he tested the door knob. It was cool to the touch and it wasn’t locked when Naruto turned it. Pushing the door open slowly, he peeked into the room. The soft glow of light was in there, reflecting off all the trinkets that were all around the room. “Sasuke? Are you in here?” Naruto slipped all the way into the room, noting that the room was void of anyone else. The bed was empty but the wardrobe doors were wide open. Naruto tilted his head, squinting his eyes to see clearer and he stepped closer to the wardrobe. 

“Sasuke?” Naruto called out in a hushed whisper. His heart beat in his chest, but he wasn’t afraid of what was there. No, he was afraid that Sasuke was hurt, dieing or worse. He stepped in between the doors, holding his oil lamp in front of him, and could see that a tunnel stretched out into darkness. “Sasuke?” Naruto called out again, hearing his voice carry down into the darkness. The light from the lamp was creating sparkles on the walls as he walked into the tunnel. Naruto held out his hand against the wall, his fingers brushing over several pieces of shiny metal trinkets, just like in Sasuke’s room.  _ ‘I’m obviously on the right path,’  _ he hummed to himself.

A warm wind blew through his hair with a low growl of words. “ _ Don’t….come… _ ”

“Sasuke? Where are you?” Naruto called out again. He knew that was Sasuke’s voice. “I’m coming for you, hold on!” He quickened his steps, following the metal trinkets that sparkled from the light of his oil lamp.

The warm winded growl blew again, but Naruto ignored it. He was almost there, he could practically feel it! Stepping around a corner he stopped suddenly, his oil lamp held before him that shone upon a wall of black feathers.

“Sasuke,” Naruto breathed out.

“ _ Go...away…” _ the growl rose from behind the wall of black feathers.

“No!” Naruto spat out. “You’re hurt! I’m going to help you!”

“ _ You...can’t...help…” _

“Stop it! Of course I can! Now let me in!” Naruto stamped his foot. He felt energy raising within him again, giving him strength and courage. “Stop talking like that and let me help you!” 

“...”

The black feathered wall began to vibrate and Naruto stepped back. A warm wind gusted through his hair and the wall of feathers breezed past his face. A large gnarled black beak, with breathing holes the size of fists came into view first. Naruto brought his hand to his mouth as his eyes took in the site. “Oh Sasuke,” Naruto whispered out in sorrow. The beak lowered to reveal a red rimmed solid black eye that zeroed in on Naruto’s form. 

Naruto’s heart ached for the pain that he could read in that eye. “Sasuke, let me help you! I can heal you, please!” The warm feeling within him grew, and he felt himself get stronger as he pleaded to help.

“ _ What...can...you...do...human…”  _ The deep voice resonated within the walls.

“I came to save you! I want to free you from your curse!” Naruto pleaded out as he stepped closer to Sasuke. “Please, trust me that--”

“ _ You...can’t...even...dispel...your...own...curse…”  _ Heavy breathing that sounded like sighs echoed through the tunnel.

“But Sasuke…” Naruto made a fist, feeling the warmth flow through his body. 

“ _ Why...help...a...monster...like...me?”  _ The deep breaths continued to blow through the tunnel.

Naruto pulled his fist up to his chest, pushing against this thumping heart, his teeth clenching and his eyes squeezed shut hard. The warm pulsing energy flowed through him as he thought about what pain and heartache Saske was going through. The loneliness of being abandoned by the people and maybe even his family. Being used and abused by all who surrounded and sought him. 

The warm wind began to build up and the black feathers shivered. The large body shifted and turned, the large eye and twisted beak disappeared back into the darkness.

“Sasuke...wait!” Fear struck through Naruto as he realized Sasuke was leaving! He stepped forward to the large feathered figure, reaching out to grab him.

“ _ You...can’t...help…” _ the voice resonated through the tunnel. The black feathered mass moved away from Naruto into the darkness and disappeared. 

A warm gust of wind blew through thick blond locks of hair, a tanned hand still stretched out that now touched nothing but emptiness and a few black feathers fell gently to the ground. Blue eyes shimmered in tears while staring into the darkness. “But Sasuke,” he whispered out. “ _ I love you…” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you still made it this far with this particular story, many humble thank you's to you! 
> 
> I wasn't to sure how readers would like this little rendition, but so far..I'm enjoying it! hehe
> 
> Cookies to all :D


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto woke to the sound of birds chirping and the sun brightening up his cubby room. He brought his hand up to his face to rub the sleep from his eyes. He then held up his hands into his view, then frowned at his hands.  _ ‘Yup, still an old man,’ _ he grumbled inwardly as he examined the age spots while pulling at his loose skin. “Why does your skin have to get so loose and ugly when you get old,” Naruto whined out. He then sighed to himself before running his fingers through his hair. His hand stopped midway through his hair when he suddenly heard the familiar sound of water filling up a tub. “Oh! Sasuke!” Naruto rolled over to stand up and out of his bed. He needed to check on Sasuke! The wizard was in such a turmoil of sadness last night that Naruto’s heart clenched in fear of Sasuke’s wellbeing. His heart ached to reach out and sooth the man, thus he threw back the curtain to step out into the morning light.

Chiyo crackled lightly in her fireplace, her glow cast a softness about the room. Naruto wandered up to Chiyo, his bones cracking and snapping with every step. “Ugh, my old bones,” he whined out as he made it to the chair situated close to Chiyo’s fireplace. “Chiyo, is Sasuke back?” Naruto called out to the small flame.

Eyes flickered open from the flame, blinking several times before falling onto Naruto’s figure, sitting in the chair. “Yes, he’s having a bath.” 

Naruto’s shoulders slouched in relief. 

Chiyo’s flames flickered about, causing small shadows around her. “Have you figured out how to break the curse on me and Sasuke? Set us free?” Chiyo licked at some logs that were surrounding her. 

Naruto didn’t look up. His eyes downcast to the floor.

“Our time is ticking to the end, if you don’t find a way to break the curse…” Chiyo trailed off. 

Nauto’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “He’ll become a demon won’t he?” Naruto’s voice was laced with worry. 

“I can’t tell you the details of a curse, you know better than that,” Chiyo spat out. “I thought you were smarter than that old brat.”

Naruto frowned at the small flame. He stood up, fists clenched at his side and he stomped up close to Chiyo, leaning down and glaring straight at her. “You know what Orochimaru-sama said? He said that Sasuke’s heart was stolen and the demon inside him is too powerful,” Naruto growled out satisfied, seeing Chiyo’s eyes widen at the information. He gave a smug look, knowing that he knew something over Chiyo. “Now why don’t you tell me what the secret is between you and Sasuke before I throw a bucket of cold water on your head!”

Chiyo glared directly back at the old man. “How dare you! Don’t you get it?! If I die, so does Sasuke!” 

Naruto stepped back, Chiyo’s words startling him. He stumbled as he walked back, hitting the chair with his legs and he reached out, finding the back of the chair.  _ ‘Die?’ _ Naruto dragged a palm down the front of his face and walked back to his cubby.

Getting dressed slowly, Naruto walked out the door into the waste land. He stood beneath the large beast that was just standing in the early morning rays of sun. The fog was still thick in various areas as the sun beams began to burn it off. Naruto took some deep breaths, as he willed his mind to settle. He was missing something, he was certain of it. The words of Orochimaru, Chiyo and Sasuke’s connection, the talk of a demon within Sasuke and his own curse, how did it all connect?  _ Did it really connect? _ Orochimaru’s voice, speaking of the dangers of Sasuke becoming just like what Sakura-chan had become made him shudder. Rubbing his hands on his arms, he hugged himself before turning and heading back into the home.

Naruto prepared a porridge and settled it on the table. He had woken Sakura, helped her get ready for the day and took her to the table to eat. In her current state, she was much older than she appeared when Naruto first met her. She was much heavier now too. She moved slowly, hunched over, and Naruto wondered how old she actually was. Her hands shook and she couldn’t hold a spoon steady so Naruto sat across from her. “Let me help,” Naruto whispered as he grabbed the spoon and held it up to the pale pink lips of the old witch. Sakura opened her mouth dutifully and hummed appreciatively at the warm porridge. Her eyes wandered to the small flame flickering in the fireplace. 

“What a pretty fire,” she whispered, her mouth opening up again for Naruto to spoon feed her. She continued to watch the flame, her green eyes reflecting from it. 

“Hello everyone,” a baritone voice called out. 

Naruto’s skin shivered at the soothing voice and looked to see Sasuke coming down the stairs. His walk was sophisticated, with being so tall, his hair bouncing with each step. Sasuke looked refreshed. Naruto took in his smooth yet sharp jawline, his silky dark locks that framed his face, marble skin that looked flawless, and Naruto found himself humming in appreciation of the handsome wizard. His heart thumped as he remembered what he said to the wizard last night, would Sasuke remember? Naruto felt his face blush and he turned to look at feeding Sakura again.

“Naruto,” Sasuke spoke up as he stopped in the middle of the room. 

Naruto’s eyes widened when he locked eyes with Sasuke. “Y-yes?” his voice creaked out.  _ Dammit! Why did he have to sound so--so old! _

Sasuke’s eyes were soft as he held Naruto with a stare. “How are you feeling?” He walked over to Naruto, placing the back of his hand to his forehead. He pinched his lips as he closed his eyes to concentrate. ‘ _ He doesn’t feel hot anymore, thank goodness,’ _ Sasuke hummed to himself. 

Naruto’s heart fluttered at an insane speed when Sasuke placed the back of his hand on his forehead. He could feel his face heating up from the touch. Sasuke was so close he could smell the rich calming scent that smelled like sandalwood. “Um, f-fine thank you,” Naruto managed to stutter out. When Sasuke stepped back Naruto felt himself missing Sasuke’s presence. 

Sasuke turned to look at Chiyo briefly before turning back and facing the others at the table. “I have news. We are moving.” 

“I hate moving,” Gaara mumbled as he continued to munch on his breakfast. 

Naruto blinked. “Oh?” Naruto didn’t have a clue what moving meant for a wizard’s mind. 

“Yes,” Sasuke clapped his hands together. “We have to move to a place where master Orochimaru can’t find me and I need to keep this family safe.” He nodded at the three at the table and turned towards the door. “Gaara, finish up and assist me,” he called out over his shoulder before stepping out into the waste land door. 

“What a handsome man,” Sakura mumbled as she watched Sasuke head out through the door.

Shortly after, Gaara and Sasuke were tracking markings outside on the ground. Naruto watched closely with interest. He had never seen the works of magic until that fateful day that Sasuke and he had met. Walking through the air, Sasuke’s strong arm around him to guide him, Naruto sighed happily at the memory. Since then of course he has been the victim of an aging curse that could no longer be lifted due to the Sakura no longer being a witch. He was suddenly saddened at that thought and he slouched in his seat. He played with the hem of his old shirt and held the tears at bay, trying not to think about how he was forever an old man. He accepted he was in love with Sasuke and being stuck the way he was, nothing could ever be.  _ Sasuke is young, handsome, he will make some young lady out there very happy. _ Naruto bit his bottom lip and wiped a stray tear before watching Sasuke and Gaara again.

“All done! Let’s get a move on Gaara,” Sasuke hummed as he slapped his hands together, dust and dirt flying off. 

“Okay!” Gaara ran into the house before Sasuke.

Sasuke grabbed a fireplace shovel, gently pushing it under Chiyo’s flame. “It’s time Chiyo.” Sasuke walked to the centre of the room, balancing Chiyo’s flame on the shovel carefully. Taking a straight pose, he glanced over at the other inhabitants of the home and nodded his head. Naruto, Sakura, Kiba had all been directed to sit on the table. “Ready now?” 

Naruto held Gaara and Sakura’s hand, giving a nod towards Sasuke. Sasuke held one arm straight out to the side, Chiyo’s flickering flame on the shovel balanced in front of himself and his eyes looked straight ahead. 

Chiyo flared up high, growing to the size of Sasuke himself and Naruto could feel the heat blasting off of her. He gasped when he saw Sasuke encased in the flames as well, but relaxed when it appeared that Sasuke was only surrounded and not being burnt to death! Chiyo’s eyes and flame body grew so large that she really was an impressive fire demon. Chiyo licked her lips as her flame grew and swirled around herself and Sasuke.

The room began to pop around them, changing shape, colour and even the furniture. With the room changing around Naruto, the size and impressive red and blue show that Chiyo and Sasuke were doing, Naruto felt dizzy trying to watch everything at once. He squeezed Gaara and Sakura’s hands to ensure he was still sitting straight up. He squeezed his eyes shut, breathing deeply, until he heard everything go silent. Peeking his eyes open, Naruto saw Sasuke moving back towards the fireplace and Gaara jumped off the table.

“Wow master, this house looks great!” Gaara began running to new doors, opening and closing them, the running to the next. The shaggy brown mutt yipping and chasing after him.

Naruto glanced around the room, noting the changes before hopping down off the table and then helping Sakura down next. He guided Sakura to a new couch that was situated by Chiyo’s new fireplace then took another look around. He noticed that the curtain that was his makeshift wall to his sleeping cubby was gone. “Sasuke, what--?” Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s hand, startling him. His blue eyes looked down to see the smooth warm long fingers grasping his own wrinkled age spotted hand. 

“I added extra rooms, and one especially for you.” 

Sasuke’s voice was soft, smooth and Naruto felt the goosebumps rising up his arm. He looked up to the voice only to become instantly lost in pools of soft black orbs shining down at him. He couldn’t stop the heat rising in his cheeks this time and could only nod his head when Sasuke began to lead him towards a wooden door tucked into the corner of the room.

Naruto’s eyes took in the quaint room. It had windows that overlooked a courtyard and he could see the hills in the distance. A comfy bed was tucked into a corner with a wardrobe. On the bed there were several boxes, decorated in several colours and ribbons. Naruto stood before the windows, taking in the site. His heart felt warm and his body began to thrum in excitement. Never before had he had such a luxurious room, full of comfortable furniture and a beautiful view. His life prior to this was the cobblers storage closet and sleeping on the streets before that. To think that Sasuke had given him such a gift had him feel special, appreciated and dare he say...  _ loved _ . 

Sasuke watched from the door as Naruto appeared to grow younger. His gray hair began to fade into the brilliant blond locks they once were, the body began to shift into a straighter youthful appearance and his skin slowly faded from a dull brown to a healthy tan look. Even his face was beginning to tighten back up to the youthful demere it once was. Sasuke folded his arms and leaned against the door frame as Naruto glowed softly as his body began to change.  _ ‘He is truly an amazing person, with a big heart and not an ounce of selfishness in him. Truly, I am not worthy of such a gift…’ _ Sasuke frowned sadly at this last thought. Yes, Naruto was an incredible treasure that he would hate to taint with his inner turmoils. Naruto deserved someone to protect him, cherish and worship him, and give him the world. Sasuke didn’t deserve such an angel like Naruto. 

Sasuke cleared his throat before moving forward into the room.“I got you some new clothes.” He waved his hand in the direction of the brightly coloured boxes on the bed. “Do you like your new room?” 

Naruto inhaled deeply at the voice before his thoughts turned back to the present. His eyes saddened suddenly at his thoughts.  _ ‘Yeah right,’  _ his sad thoughts rang in his mind. He was under a curse, he had no future but as an old, withered… “Oh, yes. It’s perfect for a housekeeper.” His voice was laced with sorrow. 

Sasuke frowned at Naruto’s voice and sad blue eyes. He watched as the youthfulness that was blooming back suddenly reversed and an old tired depressed man looked back at him. Frustration laced through him at seeing how the curse had sucked the spark and resilient aura away from him. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts of how he could life the spirits of Naruto. An idea struck him suddenly. “Naruto, come with me, I want to show you something.” He held a hand out and Naruto lifted a weary eyebrow at him. Sasuke flicked his fingers towards him, silently asking Naruto to come to him. Hesitantly, Naruto lifted his aged hand placing it into Sasuke’s. 

Sasuke leadNaruto back out to the main room towards the door. “Do you see the new colour on the dial?” Naruto looked to where Sasuke was pointing. “I created it just for you.” Sasuke turned the dial at the door, opened it and was hit with warm sunlight.

Naruto’s eyes widened at the site that lay before him. It was a flowered field that stretched for as far as the eye could see. The ground was a vast of dozens of colours of what looked to be hundreds of different breeds of flowers. The green of the flowers stems and grass blended beautifully with the blooms that rolled with the hills. Naruto was speechless. He had never seen something so beautiful.

Sasuke pulled Naruto through the hills. “Do you like it?” he asked softly. His eyes sparkled with excitement, watching Naruto’s face as he guided him through the fields. 

“S-Sasuke, this is...what is this? Where are we?” Naruto asked while gaping all about him. The sky was a brilliant blue with white fluffy clouds doting here and there. The breeze was warm and rustled the blossoms. 

“It’s my special place that I used to go to as a child. My uncle helped me create it years ago.” 

“Did you use magic here?”

“Only a little. Just to help the flowers grow,” Sasuke murmured out with a soft smile. “The new home we are in has a small shop attached to it. I thought maybe you may like to sell flowers there? You could create so many beautiful things with all the flowers from this field.” Sasuke stopped at the top of a small hill, pulling Naruto to stand beside him. “And look down there,” he whispered out, pointing off to the distance.

Naruto looked to see a small cottage, nestled next to a small stream. The cottage had a water wheel, slowly turning with the moving stream. The stream led to a crystal blue lake nearby that sparkled in the sunlight. “Sasuke! It’s beautiful! It’s like a dream. And--and I feel familiar with this place, like I’ve been here before. Oh! Is that your house?” Naruto breathed out in surprise. The whole situation had left him breathless and he was finding it hard to find the right words to describe his feelings at seeing such a place. And for Sasuke to share it with him1-- _ ’I created it just for you…’ _ The words Sasuke said before revealing such a place played over in his mind.  _ ‘Sasuke shared this place just with him! Why would he…’’ _ Naruto began to feel the pleasurable warmth building inside his chest again. The feeling was serenity and he welcomed it to flow through his body.

“That small house is where I used to go to be alone and study. It’s my special hiding place,’’ Sasuke explained with a soft smile. He stepped down the hill a few steps, taking in the view. He had not been here for many years and he had forgotten how special the place made him feel. He turned back to see Naruto, who still stood on the top of the hill. He gasped at the beauty that appeared before him. Naruto had once again had thick sunshine gold hair, his face was tanned and flawless, with his adorable marks on his cheeks. His skin was golden tanned that hugged his lean build. Naruto’s eyes were closed and there was a smile on his face as he stood sparkling in the sun's rays and inhaled the breeze blowing through his hair. Sasuke was in awe at the sheer beauty of the young man before him. 

“It’s all for you Naruto,” Sasuke hummed out. “I want you to enjoy this place as I did.” 

Naruto’s eyes opened suddenly and he looked down at Sasuke in alarm. “S-Sasuke...why would--no stop, you’re scaring me.” He clasped his hands together and lowered his eyes. “You sound like you’re leaving and never coming back…” 

“I want to help you Naruto,” Sasuke called out, stepping closer to the blond. “This is all a gift for you. You can open a flower shop, create beautiful designs with Gaara--”

Naruto flicked his head up to stare at Sasuke, halting the raven haired wizard in his tracks. “Tell me the truth Sasuke! I don’t care if you think you are a monster, b-because you’re not!” Naruto bit his bottom lip to keep it from trembling, his blue eyes watering while glaring at the wizard, arms stiffened at his side as he clenched his fists. “I want to help you dammit!” 

The breeze gently pushed at the raven haired locks, while Sasuke held his stance, watching the beautiful blond stand his ground and continue to bore his crystal blue eyes at him. Sasuke then relaxed his stance slightly before pushing a hand through his hair, his eyes looking at the flowers below his feet and he released a sad sigh. “I just want you to live in peace Naruto.” He looked up to find a tear slipping down the scarred cheek and Sasuke felt his heart clench at the site. 

Naruto hiccuped a few breaths at Sasuke’s response. The answer was clear. Sasuke was leaving. Those sad dark eyes pleaded at him silently. Naruto slouched his shoulders and dropped his head slightly, suddenly feeling defeated. “I know I’m not a good looking man,” he sighed out softly. “But I guess, at least when you’re old, there isn’t much more left to lose in life.” 

Sasuke felt the familiar lump in the back of his throat and the tickle of tears behind his eyes while he watched Naruto’s youthful beauty suddenly disappear. The old man stood before him once again, looking sad and tired. “No Naruto, no. Don’t say that.” Sasuke took the final steps to stand before Naruto. He brought a finger up to Naruto’s chin, forcing those crystal blue eyes to look up at him. “You are truly beautiful and I don’t deserve such a precious gift.” Sasuke’s heart clenched again as a sad wrinkled smile was the response to his confession.

A crackling boom noise was heard in the distance and both sets of eyes looked into the horizon. Behind some clouds, a shadow was moving slowly. Both men squinted off into the distance into the sky. 

“What the hell,” Naruto muttered out, holding a hand over his eyes to cut the glare of the sun so he could see.

“A battleship,” Sasuke growled out. “They have a lot of nerve bringing that monstrosity through here!”

“Is it the enemy’s?” Naruto gasped out.

“Does it matter?” Sasuke spit out. “All it does is kill innocent people.”

As the ship came into site, closer to the two men, Naruto’s mouth fell open in shock. “Oh my god, look at all the bombs they are carrying!” Naruto felt the rage begin to fill him. A stupid war between two hot headed men who are using other people to do their killing! 

Sasuke smirked and slipped an arm around Naruto’s waist. “Well, we can’t have that now can we!” Gripping onto Naruto firmly, he lifted his other arm and focused his open palm at the battle ship.

Naruto felt Sasuke tremor slightly and the hairs on his body began to stand up. It felt as if Sasuke was electrically charged and he could feel it rushing through his body. It was like getting static electricity shocks all at once all over his body. Naruto couldn’t help but shiver at the sensation. Sasuke began to clench his teeth while his hand twisted slightly in different directions before he brought the arm back down and he was panting slightly. 

Explosions began to echo through the air and Naruto saw bursts of flames erupting in various parts of the battle ship. “Did you use magic Sasuke?” Naruto asked while watching the ship begin to shake and tremble.

“Just a little,” he panted out. “Enough so it won’t make it to its destination,” he huffed out proudly. He moved his arm from around Naruto and grasped his other arm tight, pushing it against his body. “It won’t crash though.” 

The battleship continued to make loud groaning noises with an explosion going off now and then and Naruto smirked at how the ship seemed to be slowly losing altitude. He squinted his eyes when he saw several black forms begin coming out from the front of the ship like cannons. “Sasuke! What--” he called out surprised and turned to see Sasuke giving a sneer at the ship. His body was still shaking and Naruto glanced at the other side of Sasuke to see that the arm that he had used to stop the ship was covered in black pointed spikes. Naruto couldn’t hide his surprise as he brought a hand to his mouth.  _ ‘Sasuke’s inner demon?!’ _

“It’s master Orochimaru’s henchmen. They’re coming.” Sasuke’s voice was laced with a deep throaty sound that made him sound more demon than human. “Quickly, we need to go!” Sasuke turned and grabbed Naruto’s hand, pulling him through the flowers.

“Wait! Sasukeeee! I can’t run that fast!” Naruto wailed out as Sasuke pulled on his arm, trying to get him into a run. 

“Faster Naruto! Come on! You can do it!” Sasuke called out and turned enough to slip his arm around Naruto’s waist, his other hand grabbing Naruto’s hand. “Just like we did before, that’s it!” 

Naruto gasped at the sensation of being pulled into Sasuke’s hip while they ran together. He was reminded of the first time they met, when Sasuke held him close and they began to walk into the air. If he wasn’t so frightened of the henchmen that were currently flying towards them to most likely eat them alive, he may have enjoyed the moment! 

“Keep running Naruto!” Sasuke called out as black feathers began to sprout on his back, head and arms. 

Naruto ran and managed to look towards Sasuke as he began to transform. As the feathers began to protrude all over his body, black wings folded out of nowhere from his back and Naruto no longer felt the ground. He looked up to see Sasuke’s beautiful face surrounded by silky looking black feathers. He knew he shouldn't have, but he looked down and shrieked out in surprise.

“You’re doing great! Keep running! See the door?” Sasuke called out. The wisp of wings slicing through the air was the only sound around them. “I’m going to draw them away, but I need to make sure you are safe! Keep running for the door!”

“Wait, what?! What do you mean  _ run for the door!? _ We aren’t exactly on the ground for that!” Naruto screeched out at the wizard. Naruto saw the door coming into view, and it was coming up fast. “Wait! Sasuke! Going to fast! Going to fast! AAAHHH!!”

Sasuke flew low and fast towards the door and let go of Naruto’s hands. Naruto continued to wail out when he felt Sasuke let go, but he kept his legs running but his arms flailed around as if trying to catch something. His body was going straight for the door back into the castle and Naruto shut his eyes, waiting for his impending doom.

“Grandpa! Grandpa! What happened!?” Gaara came running to the door, hearing the shriek and crash that echoed through the house. He slid to his knees beside a crumpled mess of an old man on the floor just inside the door. Gaara leaned his body over to see where Naruto’s face was, since all he saw was a mop of gray hair. “Grandpa?” he whispered out when no movement came from the man.

A groan finally vibrated up from the fallen man and Naruto found the energy to roll himself over onto his back. He let out a throaty squeak when he felt the aches and pains of his muscles that were resisting the movement. “Stupid old bones,” Naruto mumbled as his body finally laid out flat on his back.

“Grandpa!” Gaara fell upon Naruto’s chest, hugging him tight. “What happened!? Are you alright?” Gaara sounded near tears and Naruto gave him a one armed squeeze of comfort.

“Ugh, I’m okay Gaara. But seriously, I’m too old for this crap!” he grumbled out while rubbing Gaara’s back in comfort.  _ ‘That wizard will be the bringer of an early grave for me if he keeps this up!’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta says: The beta life has slowed again, I find myself missing the authors so so so much. But after doing it for years, I should certainly be used to these slow times. But you know, I miss talking to them too! The messages have been like null, and I worry about them. Anyone sees the authors, let them know I miss them and hope they are doing well. Anyhow, this beta is enjoying doing this in the down time, having a good time with it. I hope the readers are too.
> 
> I still do my tumblr, you can still find me there under this handle. Oh, I've become more familiar with tiktok...sad though eh? LOL 
> 
> Many coffees, cookies and cakes for you readers, I appreciate the time you take to wave, say hi, leave a notification, things like that.


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto stood in his room, his eyes looking at the horizon in the distance, the night sky blanketed the town but Naruto could see the bursts of light coming from explosions high in the night sky. One could almost compare them to stars, but when you knew what the lights were from, there was no peace of mind. The explosions were getting closer to the town every day and Naruto shivered. After his _graceful_ drop off in the house by Sasuke hours ago, Sasuke still hadn’t returned yet and Naruto couldn’t help the feelings of worry that riddled his mind. Seeing first hand how Orochimaru’s henchmen came after Sasuke, he wondered if Sasuke was safe. The power of the battleship that could lay waste to the land below angered him slightly. _‘Great...get angry on one hand and worried sick about Sasuke on the other! Gonna be the death of me…’_ Naruto sighed.

A small knock came on his bedroom door and Naruto called out to come in, still staring out the window.

“Grandpa Naru?” Gaara called out softly. Naruto turned to see Gaara all dressed in his night clothes. “I came to say goodnight.” 

Bright teal coloured eyes were soft and adorable, Naruto couldn’t help but smile at the boy. “Good night Gaara, sleep well.” He could see the shaggy Kiba behind him, waiting patiently for Gaara to get to bed it would seem. He looked back out through the window.

Gaara pinched his lips slightly and looked at the man. “Don’t worry about master grandpa. He sometimes leaves the house for days. But he always comes back.” Naruto hummed a thankful response. “Anyhow, goodnight.” Gaara stepped back softly and closed the door.

Naruto came out of his room a short time later and helped Sakura get ready for bed. He tucked in her sheets and comforter, fluffed her pillows and set a glass of water beside her bed. Turning down the lamp that was by the bed, he turned to her and bid her goodnight. 

“You’re in love with Sasuke,” the old witch hummed out, causing Naruto to stop in his tracks. Naruto didn’t move. He continued to look at the door that was the way out, but her words had him frozen. “Don’t deny it. You have been sighing all day.” 

Naruto turned to face the old woman. “Have you ever been in love?” he asked softly, while moving to sit on the edge of the bed when Sakura patted her hand on it, inviting him to sit.

“Of course I have,” the old woman gave a smile while her green eyes looked up as if she was remembering something. “I love young men very much.” Naruto snapped his head up in surprise. “Especially young men’s hearts! They are very delicious!” Sakura began to snicker under her breath and she rubbed her hands together. 

“You’re terrible.” Naruto rolled his eyes and gave a ‘ _tsk’_ when Sakura began laughing. Naruto didn’t know if she was joking now or what. He decided not to dwell on the old woman’s words. He turned to look away, his thoughts whirling about through his mind on many things. Naruto let out another sigh. “I just don’t think it will work,” he whispered out. 

A loud wailing sound from outside filled the air suddenly, causing Naruto to stand up and run to a window. The night was still there, the flashes of explosions far in the distance. “What is that noise?” Naruto gasped out while twisting his head to see through the window.

“Air raid sirens,” Sakura mumbled out, snuggling down into the pillows.

“Air raid?” Naruto questioned. He had never heard the term before.

“Yes. That is the alarm that towns give off to warn of battleships. But they are not from here though. They are several miles away, most likely for another town.” She pulled the blankets up to her chin. “Best not go outside tonight anyhow. Orochimaru’s lackeys are trying to find this place. Right now I know they are climbing walls, roofs and buildings, every inch of town trying to find Sasuke’s hiding places.” 

Naruto bit his bottom lip as he closed the curtains. He quickly patted the comforter, tucking the old lady back in before moving to leave.

“You have a good fire...keeping the house hidden very skillfully,” Sakura whispered out before drifting into sleep. Naruto slipped out quietly, closing the door behind him.

==x00x00x00x00x00x==

A few days had gone by and Naruto was tired of mulling about Sasuke. He couldn’t deny that he was hurt though, as he guessed, Sasuke was leaving and he didn’t know if he was coming back. His heart worried immensely for the wizard and he prayed to the gods, if there were any, that he was safe. The nights were still filled with explosions in the far night sky, and at times the air raid sirens would go off from another town, and it would seem the nights were no longer filled with cricket and frog noises.

He then began to get busy with the household. With the help of Gaara, they managed to set up the shop part of the home and fill it with flowers of all colours. So far they were just selling the flowers and not offering any arrangements. Gaara offered to deliver the flowers now and then, Kiba barking excitedly all the way with him. Sakura enjoyed sitting in the courtyard and shop, watching people and enjoying the flowers. Sometimes people would talk to her while she sat in the shop, and Sakura appeared to enjoy that. The days began to blend together and Naruto began to feel content and happy with the little family. Even Chiyo seemed to be more chipper.

Naruto was filling up various vases with fresh flowers when the familiar bell ringing over the shop door rang indicating someone had come in. Gaara was out delivering flowers and Sakura was having a nap in the back. 

“Good day good day!” A bellowing voice boomed through the small shop as a broad shouldered handsome man walked in.

Naruto took in the man that made his presence known loudly. He was smartly dressed in a suit. _‘A businessman I presume,’_ Naruto thought. He had broad shoulders and Naruto suspected that he was most likely muscular under those sharp clothes. His face showed that he was probably in his early thirties at the most. Only a hint of age lines showed around his eyes, but those eyes were a deep dark colour that matched his dark locks. The black hair was cut stylishly short, appeared thick, silky and fell gracefully in place when the man looked about. Naruto found something familiar about this man but couldn’t put his finger on it.

The dark eyes zeroed in Naruto and the handsome grinned wide. “My good man! Where can I find Sasuke today!” Naruto froze, his hands grasping the towel in his hands that he was using to dry the moisture off with. _‘How did this man know Sasuke?’_ Considering Sasuke always used alias’ when he posed in other cities as the local wizard.The man clicked his heels and nodded his head in a friendly gesture towards him.

Naruto cleared his throat while leaning against the counter. “W-who can I say is calling?”

The man gave Naruto a toothy grin before stepping closer to Naruto with his hand held out. “My name is Obito. I am Sasuke’s cousin!” 

Blue eyes widened slightly in surprise but quickly hid it, not knowing if this man was a threat or what. Naruto took the hand lightly and the man, now known as Obito, who in turn grasped his hand with a firm grip and gave it two solid pumps. When Obito released Naruto’s hand, he began to turn his head and focus on the shop.

“What a quaint little shop! How beautiful!” Obito took a few steps towards a display, his fingers touching the petals of various flowers gently. He leaned over and sniffed a few. “And the different breeds of flowers here are amazing! I think I shall purchase a bundle.” He threw a smile towards Naruto.

Naruto was still in shock at the man who claimed to be Sasuke’s cousin. He wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. Sasuke had never mentioned any family other than an uncle. Was this man also a wizard? Was he really a family member? From what he recalled there were only very few persons that knew Sasuke’s actual name. 

Remembering where he was, Naruto blinked and moved towards the flowers Obito was currently looking through. “Um...yes sir. Tell me which ones you would like and I’ll have them wrapped for you.” Naruto’s knees creaked loudly as he shuffled towards the man.

“So, is Sasuke around?” Obito asked while pointing at different coloured flowers, Naruto picking one at a time and bunching them in his hands. “It has been some time since I have seen my dear little cousin.” 

Naruto clenched the flowers, gently though, and nodded at each picked flower Obito pointed out. “I’m afraid Sasuke isn’t here. You see, he doesn’t visit often.” 

Obito tilted his head to look down at the old man. “Oh, I figured he most likely lived here.” He smiled when the old blue eyes looked back at him. “I’ve been watching the town for some time now, and when the new shop popped up, I figured that must have been his doing.” Obito now winked at those old blue eyes. The old man just turned to head to the wrapping table. _‘Hmm, he’s good at hiding his feelings. This old man has to know something, perhaps…’_ Obito pondered his next move. “Well I’m no stranger to the arts and the ways of how wizards think,” he snickered out. “Being one myself that is…” he trailed off, watching for any reaction in the old man. Receiving none he continued, “It’s the way in our family.” 

Naruto kept himself busy with wrapping the delicate flowers, listening to Obito speak. He had decided he couldn’t trust the man, family or not. Wizard or not. _‘The thing with being old, it's a lot harder to get scared it would seem.’_ Naruto hummed in agreeance to himself. “Here you go sir. Wrapped and would you like a card?” Naruto placed the wrapped package on the table where the cash register was. Shuffling to the till, he plugged in the numbers and waited for Obito to pay.

The sharply dressed man gave Naruto a confused look. Wasn’t this old man surprised, or impressed by him? He pinched his lips while in thought. “Well--thank you for this.” Obito pulled out his wallet, pulling some money from the folds. “It’s a shame about Sasuke. I did bring this for him though.” Obito put his arm around his back and when he brought it back he was now holding a wrapped small bento sized box, complete with twine. “I’ll leave this for him here and come back at another time then.” Obito flashed another smile.

“Mm-hm,” Naruto responded. He took the cash and pushed it away. “Thank you for dropping in Obito-san, do have an enjoyable rest of your day.” Naruto gave a small bow and held it briefly. It was a hint for the man to leave.

Obito hugged the flowers to his chest, looking the old man over. _‘He certainly does have beautiful blue eyes.’_ He clicked his heels and bowed at Naruto before turning and heading out the door. 

Naruto did not stand until the bells and click of the door indicated that the man had left. “Hmph, that was -- interesting.” Naruto picked up the small box and took it back into the house for safekeeping until the shop closed. 

Obito took the stairs down to the cobble streets and briskly walked down the street. He smiled his grin at several ladies that batted their eyes at him and blushed, before pulling a fan up to hide their face. He rounded a corner and slipped into a small one horse carriage but not before dumping the flowers into a trash bin. Settling down into his seat, he ran a hand through his dark hair and gave a sigh. “Okay, the deed is done, take me back.” 

The silver haired driver smirked as he clicked his tongue to get the horse moving. “As you wish. Orochimaru-sama will be pleased that you have completed this task.” 

Obito glared at the silver haired driver. “Yeah whatever, just take me back to my wife.” He turned his head to watch the passing of buildings and people. _‘Forgive me Sasuke.’_

Naruto was preparing dinner when Sakura shuffled into the room.“Supper will be awhile yet,” Naruto called out while chopping vegetables. He heard the old woman coming in the room behind him. “Why don’t you check on Gaara? He and Kiba are in the courtyard,” he hummed out. He didn’t see Sakura snatch the small box tied with twine and take it to the couch by Chiyo.

Making herself comfortable, with her back to Naruto, Sakura untied the twine around the box. She lifted the lid off and quickly shoved her hand inside. The box shook around her fat hand but green eyes glittered with excitement. Within moments Sakura pulled out a long black looking slug, gripped tight in her sausage like fingers. “Hmm, a peeping worm? Really Orochimaru?” Sakura chuckled low so Naruto wouldn’t hear her. “Chiyo,” she rasped out. “Open up!” Sakura then tossed the black worm at Chiyo. The worm crackled and hissed as the flame swallowed it up. Sakura then russelled through the box and pulled out a cigar. “Well well, this is better.” She quickly shoved it into her bosom. “Save you for later.” She grinned as she leaned back into the couch cushions. 

Chiyo’s flame shrank to practically nothing and her colour faded drastically. But nobody noticed the change. 

“Supper is ready!” Naruto called out as he set the dishes onto the dining room table. Sakura woke from her nap on the couch and began to shuffle her way over. “Sakura-chan, do you know where Gaara is?” Naruto brushed his hands on his apron, looking around the room and listening for the familiar bark of Kiba who was with Gaara always.

Sakura grabbed the back of a chair, her body hunched over, moving slowly as she moved her body into the chair. “How would I know? I was sleeping!” Sakura whined.

Naruto tsked the old woman and went through the door into the courtyard. He saw Gaara standing at the doorway that led to the street, Kiba sitting diligently beside him. Naruto smiled softly and walked up behind Gaara. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Naruto looked out into the darkening street. He was surprised to see so many people, with suitcases, bags, tucked under their arms, slung on their backs and making their way down the street.

“So many people…” Naruto muttered. “Everyone is running away. The town will be empty once they are gone.” His blue eyes took in the site, watching the people with their families seeking safety. “This damn war,” Naruto muttered while frowning and shaking his head. He stumbled back suddenly when he felt a warm body wrap around his lower body. “Gaara! What--”

“Y-you want to leave too?” Gaara's voice mumbled into Naruto’s apron, his arms squeezing around Naruto’s waist.

Naruto smiled down at the red haired boy, placing a hand on his mop of hair. “Oh Gaara, why would you think such a thing?”

Gaara shook his head. “E-Everyone is scared. Even m-master ha-hasn’t returned! I-I’m scared grandpa.” His voice cracked as he choked out his explanation. His grip didn’t loosen around Naruto’s waist and he refused to remove his face from Naruto’s apron.

“Oh Gaara,” Naruto whispered out softly, stroking the red hair. “I’m not going anywhere.” Naruto pulled Gaara’s head in for a hug against his torso while caressing his hair. 

“P-promise?” Gaara mumbled out.

“It’s a promise,” Naruto whispered out. 

Gaara pulled back slightly, his wet teal eyes looking up at Naruto’s soft blue eyes. “Are we a family grandpa?” His face gave a look of hope and Naruto felt tears sting the back of his eyes.

Naruto always wanted a family. Those to love and those who would love him in return. This was technically a family wasn’t it? It wasn’t a stereotypical family like in the storybooks; mom, dad and kids but more of persons that were alone, outcasts and just wanting to belong. Naruto bent over and pulled Gaara into a strong solid hug, his eyes watering as he felt Gaara return the embrace. “Yes Gaara, we are family. You are my family.” He pulled back, looking at the small boy's face. Tear streaks ran down the small boy's cheeks, his bottom lip trembled slightly but he smiled at Naruto. Naruto rubbed his elderly thumbs over the boy’s cheeks, drying the tears and then placed a soft kiss on his forehead. “Come now, let’s get inside.” Naruto closed and locked the courtyard door before holding Gaara’s hand and heading back inside, Kiba feet clicking behind them.

After dinner, Naruto was washing the dishes and sniffed the air. His nose immediately scrunched up, his eyes squinted and brows furrowed. _‘I know that smell! Now where the hell--’_ Naruto looked over his shoulder and was shocked to see Sakura sitting on the couch by Chiyo’s fireplace, puffing on a cigar! _‘Yuck! I didn’t know she liked those things! Ugh!’_ Naruto shook his head and continued with the dishes. He glanced over to see Gaara studying at the table, large magic books opened in front of him. _‘Gaara seems to be used to it,’_ he hummed to himself. It was common for both older men and women to smoke. It was a fashion statement. Naruto couldn’t understand how it could be, as he was never a fan of the smell. And he knew that the smoke would linger in clothing, furniture, even people’s hair for days. He couldn’t imagine what it would taste like on someone’s lips! 

Dishes done, Naruto wandered over to the fireplace. Chiyo had not been flaming like her usual self which left Naruto concerned. He picked up a couple logs placing them over top of the small flame. Grabbing the bellow, he began to blow air on the flames. Smoke poured out from the small flame with soot and ashes flying about and Naruto waved his hand in front of his face, coughing out. “I wonder what is wrong with Chiyo?” He tried the bellow a few more times, only to have more ash and soot fly about and still no flames. “Chiyo? Are you in there? Are you alright?” Naruto leaned in closer to fire; listening carefully. “Huh, nothing.” He placed a hand on his hip while the other scratched the back of his neck. He didn’t know what to do next. He wasn’t exactly a wizard nor expert with fire demons. 

Putting the bellow away, he turned to see Sakura still puffing away on the cigar. He tsked at her and moved to stand before her. “Must you smoke that thing in here? You’ll stink up the house for days!” Naruto scolded the old woman, shaking his head at her, his gray hair bouncing side to side, his one hand flipping about.

“Don’t deny an old woman her pleasures old man,” Sakura hummed out as she inhaled deeply and blew towards Naruto. 

Naruto scoffed, waved a hand at his face and coughed. “Stubborn old hag…” he mumbled out between coughs. “Gaara! Open a window to let some fresh air in!” 

“I’m on it!” Gaara hopped from his chair and went to the nearby window.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Sakura hummed out. “Chiyo is very weak right now and is barely able to hide the house from Orochimaru’s henchmen.”

Naruto’s head flicked towards the window where Gaara was reaching. “Gaara wait!” he called out, reaching out while running towards him. Gaara stepped back from the now open window, his eyes surprised at Naruto who was rushing towards him. Naruto leaned out the window, looking out into the now dark night sky. Explosions were going off in their city now, still several blocks away, but Naruto could see the flame encased mushroom clouds rising from where the bombs dropped on buildings. Sparks were littering the air and smoke was thickening the air. Naruto gasped when he saw the familiar shapes in the shadows. He quickly pulled the window shut and closed the drapes.

The house shook as a bomb went off outside, rather close. The dishes rattled and began to fall to the floor, smashing about. The ceiling creaked and dust filtered to the floor. The furniture vibrated about and Gaara shrieked as he ran into Naruto’s arms. Naruto gripped the boy tight as debris fell around them and Naruto closed his eyes, hoping for the best. Sakura continued to puff on the cigar as the couch vibrated about and dust fell from the ceiling. As quickly as it happened, the tremor was over.

Naruto stood up quickly. “Gaara, check on Sakura while I check on the shop!” Naruto shuffled as fast as he could towards the door of the shop. When he entered, it was as he expected. Flowers had fallen all around lying in pools of water. The vases they were in were shattered on the floor. Pictures on the walls lay cracked and broken. Naruto made his way to the door that led outside. 

His eyes widened at the city of flames that burned just blocks down. Buildings were engulfed in flames, screaming of people were heard echoing in the distance and Naruto couldn’t stop the tears from falling. “Oh my god, the people!” His heart went out to those stuck within the wall of flames. His fists clenched when he thought of the kings responsible for this war. “Bastards, the lot of them!” he hissed out. 

His eyes caught movement a few doors down. In the shadows, creatures that were oddly shaped with wings, large mouths with rows of sharp teeth began walking out into the light caused by the raging fires. They shuffled on two feet, had stub like arms with some fingers on them and they were all heading towards him. Naruto immediately recognized them as Orochimaru’s henchmen.

“There is a war going on can’t you see!” Naruto yelled out at the creatures. “People need help! Why can’t you help them instead!” Naruto screamed at the creatures that continued to stumble towards the shop door. Angry tears squeezed out from his eyes and he just couldn’t understand why these-- _these things_ wouldn’t help put out fires and get people to safety instead! Stamping his foot and flipping the bird to the creatures, he turned back into the shop and slammed the door. Quickly locking it before he ran back towards the house in the back.

Sidestepping the broken glass and fallen articles on the floor, he ran to where Gaara was sitting next to Sakura on the couch. He was hiding his face under her arm while she hugged him close. Naruto frowned at the old woman who was still smoking that cigar like nothing happened! “You! Can’t you see what’s going on here! How can you just sit there smoking that stinky shit while the city is on fire!” Naruto was angry, disappointed and scared all the same time. His body was riddled with adrenaline and the desire to save his family was racing through his blood. 

Sakura glanced at Naruto and smiled. She could see how his body was becoming younger again. His gray hair almost all gone, his youthful lithe body coming into shape and his blue eyes were filled with fire. _‘He just might break his curse just yet.’_ She hummed to herself, while inhaling another drag of the cigar. She chuckled as Naruto gave her a glare and a disgruntled huff.

Air raid sirens suddenly filled the night and they were sounding as if they were right outside. “Oh no,” Naruto whispered. He ran for the door that led out to the courtyard. Throwing the door open, he ran into the middle of the courtyard and looked up. The sirens rang loud and clear and he flinched when the piercing noise hit his ears fully. He could see the explosions still going off in the night sky. There were no stars, only a massive blanket of smoke. 

The explosion flares lit up the smokey sky with flashes of lights and Naruto caught the lights reflecting off a metal object high up in the sky. Fear flashed through his mind and his body shook in shock. It was a battleship, right above the city, its large looming body practically hidden except when the flares of light flashed off it’s metal hull. The battleship’s womb was opening slowly and Naruto watched in horror as black tear shaped objects began to be released to the ground below. The whistling noise that erupted from the objects as they fell from the sky left Naruto staring hopelessly at them. The bombs were being dropped right above them.

Trembling in fear, Naruto felt the dread beginning to seep into his heart. _‘We’re doomed…’_

A sudden flash reflected off a black blur that was soaring around the falling bombs. Naruto blinked repeatedly, trying to focus on what he thought he had seen. His eyes flickered about, until several flashing lights went off in the distance and Naruto saw the black blur again. It was bouncing off each tear shaped bomb, pushing them in other directions, away from the city. “SASUKE!” Naruto screamed out in terror. _What was he doing!?_ His hands covered his mouth as his eyes couldn’t pull away from watching the scene above him.

One of the bombs was still heading straight towards their home. The others were pushed away but the black blur speeding straight down trying to catch the falling metal death container. Naruto stumbled back, his eyes still watching the night sky, his heart pounding in his chest in fear. _‘He’ll be killed! We’ll all be blown to nothing! Sasuke!’_ As the bomb was in clear sight, right above the house, Naruto fell to his knees, covered his head and squeezed his eyes shut. _‘I love you all, goodbye…’_ His tears fell as he heard the whistling of the bomb falling right over his head.

A crash was heard, but no more than that, and Naruto lifted his head slowly. The dust and smoke was thick and he waved his hand around, thinking that would help clear it away. Quickly he patted his body all over, checking to see if he was still in one piece. _‘Am I alive? Or is this the afterlife?’_ Feeling puzzled, he peered through the dust and smoke, and breathed in a relief when he saw the wall of the house. _‘What the hell happened?’_ He found his footing and stood up, brushing his hands off on his pants. The dust and smoke were clearing and a familiar form began to emerge from the corner of the court yard.

“Sasuke!” Naruto cried out, his eyes watering with happiness. He stepped slowly towards the form, noticing that the large tear shaped bomb was lodged into the ground. Sasuke, his body heaving from his heavy breathing was covered in large black feathers and he was leaning against the metal canister. Naruto was immediately flooded with warmth at seeing that Sasuke was alright, had returned and he ran towards the raven. Sasuke looked up and opened his feathered wings and embraced the blond that leaped at him.

“S-Sasuke, Sasuke, oh my god…” Naruto began blubbering into Sasuke’s black feathered chest, not caring at all that his love was covered in feathers and had wings instead of arms. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s feathered body as he let the tears fall, his face buried into Sasuke’s chest of feathers. Sasuke wrapped his winged arms around the shaking blond, leaning his cheek upon the top crown of Naruto’s head whispering comforting words. 

It seemed like only seconds had passed when Naruto hiccuped out a surprise yelp when he heard the sounds of wood creaking and breaking all around him. There was no time for tearful reunions, the henchmen were still coming! He looked up to see Sasuke’s face, still marble smooth and handsome, his dark eyes shimmering down at him. The only difference was his face was no longer surrounded by black silky hair. It was now a head of smooth black feathers that blended into the rest of his body. Naruto shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “Sasuke. Their coming! Quickly!” He pulled back when Sasuke wrapped a wing around him and guided him to the door heading into the home. The noise heightened behind them, Naruto’s fear pounded in his head hearing the henchmen right on their heels but Sasuke slipped them both through the door easily and the door shut in the face of the demons. 

“Master!” Gaara cried out as he jumped from the couch. “You’re back and alive!” Gaara stood before Sasuke, his eyes wide with awe at looking at the wizard. His hands were clenched together in a prayer like fashion, rocking on his heels as he stood before his master. His body trembled with excitement and probably relief at seeing his master before him.

Sasuke gave Gaara a curl of his lip in a smile, nodding in agreement at the lad. “Sorry I’m late. I didn’t mean to make you worry.” He then turned to see Sakura still sitting on the couch, puffing at her cigar. Stepping over to her, he bent at his hips to see Sakura face to face.

“Good to see you Sasuke,” Sakura purred out while exhaling the smoke.

“Was that a gift from master Orochimaru?” Sasuke asked out politely, his voice sounding sultry at the same time and he gave the old witch a smirk. 

Sakura inhaled again and blew the smoke in Sasuke’s face. “I’m surprised you’re not running away from me,” she snickered out with a smug look on her face.

“I’m a better man now madam,” Sasuke chuckled out. Bringing his wing forward, he clenched his teeth, grunting out as his hand appeared at the end of the wing. He then held his revealed hand out in front of Sakura. “Now, I don’t have a lot of time, so if you please.” He raised a brow at her while continuing to hold his hand out.

Sakura huffed out a snort. “So sad we don’t have more time Sasuke.” She blew out another blast of smoke before butting out the cigar in Sasuke’s palm. Naruto gave a horrified look when he saw this but said nothing. 

The cigar went out immediately in Sasuke’s palm, leaving no mark of any sort. Sasuke wrapped his fingers around the cigar butt. Wringing his fingers together, the remnants of the cigar disappeared in a puff of smoke. “Thank you madam. We will have a longer time to talk later.” Sasuke gave Sakura a nod and stood back up, turning towards the fireplace.

“S-sassss….” Chiyo’s voice whispered out sounding strained. “I-I ate s-something bad…” Little puffs of smoke rose over her faded flame.

Sasuke hovered his hand over Chiyo’s small flame and closed his eyes. Only his breathing was heard until Chiyo began to pop and crackle. Her flame began to swell up towards Sasuke’s open hand until a pop was heard, and a long black slug flung up into Sasuke’s awaiting hand. Naruto gasped at the site. 

“Well, it would seem there was a spy in our midst. Tsk,” Sasuke grumbled and his hand exploded into blue flame and the black slug disintegrated into the air. He focused his now empty hand over Chiyo again and Chiyo flared up bright orange and red. 

“Chiyo! You’re alright!” Gaara cried out from behind Sasuke. 

Chiyo coughed out a bunch of smoky breaths. “Argh! How dare that old lady feed me that--that filth! I outta burn your ass!” Chiyo’s voice created crackles and pops in her flames. Naruto chuckled quietly in the background at the site. 

Sasuke turned at Naruto and took him into his grasp. Naruto gasped in surprise but melted into the embrace. “Stay in the house. Chiyo will protect you,” Sasuke whispered.

Naruto’s mouth fell open in shock. “W-where are you going?”

“There’s another wave of bombs coming. I need to protect you from out there.” He tilted his head towards the door.

“No! You can’t go! Stay here! Please!” Naruto pleaded, his hands clenching the feathers of Sasuke’s chest. Sasuke stepped to the side, moving past Naruto and heading for the door. “Sasuke please! Don’t go!” Naruto threw himself into Sasuke’s body, wrapping his arms around his body. “We can run away. We don’t need to stay here,” he sobbed into Sasuke’s back.

Sasuke stood still for a moment. He slowly turned in Naruto’s arms and cupped the blond tanned face. Blue watery eyes pleaded at him and a pain hit Sasuke’s heart. “Naruto,” he thumbed at the scarred cheek. “I don’t want to run away anymore. I finally found someone I want to protect.” He smiled sadly and lowered his lips towards the other. 

Naruto’s eyes fluttered closed as he felt the soft warm lips of Sasuke on his own. The warming kiss was gentle, begged for forgiveness and ached with pain. Naruto felt a tear escape his eyes as he felt the heartbreaking pain being transferred through the kiss. And then it was gone. Opening his eyes quickly, he watched Sasuke’s silhouette disappear through the darkness behind the magic door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma kinda speechless


	8. Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta says: It's short and I'm tired, but dang I got to talking and the words just kept a typing.
> 
> Special mention to kcisjohan for the talks, chats and shooting the bs just to make me laugh :D

Naruto turned and ran for the courtyard, his eyes scanning the sky. Bright flares continued to explode in the night sky, billowing smoke blanketed the area and fires still raged through the buildings are them. 

He gasped out as he saw the familiar silhouette soaring through the thick smoke, the flares of light reflecting off his feathers. The explosions riddled around Sasuke, but what scared Naruto the most was seeing the swarms of flying creatures, diving and surrounding Sasuke in the air. Sasuke would twirl, dive and swoop around, leaving sparks of electrical explosions behind him, taking out only a small few of dozens of monsters that pursued him. At times there would be a black mass of demons dive bombing towards the shop, but Sasuke would fly after them, shocking them all to a halt with blue electrical shocks that cracked through the sky. 

Naruto almost cried out in fear as he saw the familiar shape of two battleships, making their way closer to Sasuke, who fought valiantly against swarms of monsters. He felt so helpless, watching from the ground below, as Sasuke fought against the forces of evil for him, for their family. He bit his bottom lip hard to keep it from trembling and wiped the back of his hand against his eyes.  _ ‘This has to stop!’ _ he thought to himself, his fists tightening at his sides as he came up with a plan. He ran back into the house, his jaw tight on what he knew needed to be done.

“We need to move this house!” Naruto demanded out as he closed the door, locking it up. Green and teal eyes looked at him in surprise. “Sasuke is out there fighting for us, because we are in this particular house! We need to get out of here!” 

“How can we do that? If we leave, then those things will know where we are! Chiyo keeps us safe here!” Gaara expressed his frustrations out, his arms crossing over his chest. 

Naruto knelt on one knee, his smile soft and he placed a hand on Gaara’s shoulder. “If Sasuke stays fighting out there, he’ll die.” His blue eyes were sad as he searched the young teal eyes. “Please, we have to save Sasuke.” Naruto pulled Gaara in for a hug, sniffling slightly when the boy returned the hug. 

“Okay grandpa, tell me what to do,” Gaara whispered in response. 

“Thank you,” Naruto replied, giving Gaara a smile and ruffled his red hair. He stepped up to Chiyo’s fireplace. “Chiyo, we need to move the castle!” 

“I can’t move it! I need Sasuke to do that! I don’t have the strength without him!” Chiyo spit out. 

“Then we have to disconnect from this house and go elsewhere!” 

“Orochimaru will find us if I disconnect us from here!” Chiyo’s flames fluttered up in surprise. 

“Orochimaru has already found this place. Sasuke has been fighting them back, but he can’t survive! Between the henchmen and the bombs! Sasuke will die if we stay here! We need to disconnect so Sasuke can escape and not have to worry about us!” Naruto breathed out heavily, his mind was going a mile a minute and time was wasting! His body was thrumming with energy and he knew what he needed to do to save Sasuke and their family.

“The only way to disconnect is me leaving,” Chiya responded in a whisper. “But, the house will collapse and I don’t know what will happen afterwards--” Her flames flickered slightly.

Naruto grabbed the fireplace shovel. “Gaara, get granny Sakura a blanket, we need to go for a walk.” Gaara ran to a bedroom to get the said blanket, Kiba following on his heels. Naruto tucked the shovel under Chiyo’s flame, ensuring the small fire demon was on the shovel before pulling it slowly towards himself.

“Careful, careful, don’t drop me!!” Chiyo nervously cried out. “OOohhhhh..I don’t know about this! I’m gonna die!” Chiyo continued to whine out while Naruto carefully walked across the room, avoiding all the debris that had fallen from the explosions.

Naruto waved to Gaara, “take granny Sakura out to the waste land first, I’ll be out next.” Gaara nodded and led Sakura to the door, helping her through the steps.

Naruto made his way to the now open door, he could see that it was pouring rain, bolts of lightning lit up the sky randomly but Gaara, Kiba and Sakura were outside.

“Make sure I go out last Naruto-kun,” Chiyo whispered out. Her flame gave a soft glow and big eyes looked up at the now youthful looking old man. Chiyo had long suspected that the curse Naruto was under was controlled by emotions, thus any positive unselfish emotions from Naruto, had his youthful self coming out more and more.  _ ‘Shows how kind and compassionate his heart really is,’ _ Chiyo thought to herself.

Naruto nodded at the advice and turned around just when he got to the door. “Make sure you guys are far enough back Gaara,” Naruto called out. “I don’t know what will happen!” He stepped out through the door frame. 

“I don’t know what will happen either,” Chiyo added. “Oh dear, oh dear,” she chanted while Naruto continued to step back and Chiyo was finally through the door frame and outside.

Within seconds, a vortex sucked the inside of the house within itself, and Naruto found himself frightened suddenly of the mass power that was suddenly just inches away from him and Chiyo. His body trembled from the shock of fear but he quickly steadied himself when he heard the creaking and groaning of the outside of the moving beast. Pulling Chiyo closer to him to shield her from the rain, he yelped out when he quickly stumbled backwards, getting out of the way of the quaking house that began to crumble like an overcooked cake. 

As the house crumbled to pieces before their eyes, the rain poured, the thunder and lightning continued on as if nothing had changed. When there was nothing but silence from the crumbling pile of wood and metal, the small family stood speechless for a moment before a bounding figure stood before them.

Snapped out of his musings, Naruto looked up to see the pumpkinhead scarecrow, holding an umbrella over him. Naruto gave a lopsided grin to the scarecrow, “thanks pumpkinhead, you always seem to appear right when we need you.” Naruto looked into the distance, to see the swarms of black dots, revolving around an area that often sparked a bright blue flash.  _ ‘Sasuke!’ he cried out in his mind.  _ Naruto’s eyes also saw the forms of several battleships, surrounding the swarms. The red haze of fires glowed along the ground and more bombs exploded on the ground near the shop. “Sasuke needs to know that we aren’t at the shop anymore!” He glanced at the pile of wood and twisted metal that was once the large moving beast. “Gaara, stay here while I try and find a way in!” Holding Chiyo steady and shielding her as best he could from the rain, he stepped around the twisted metal, seeking a way in.

After several minutes Naruto cried out from the darkness. “I found a way in! Come on Gaara, bring granny Sakura!” 

Gaara quickly tried to help Sakura walk through the mud to the pile of twisted metal and wood, until pumpkinhead hopped behind Sakura and picked her up on his pole. Gaara’s eyes widened in surprise, but then headed quickly to the sound of Naruto’s voice to get out of the rain. There was no time for questioning the magic of things especially when they were all soaking wet!

Naruto was shoving broken boards, beams and walls out the way the best he could. He could see the fireplace, still somewhat intact but covered in debris. Grunting out he managed to clear a spot in the fireplace and placed Chiyo back down. He turned around trying to find dry pieces of wood and threw them on top of Chiyo. 

“Damn it brat, treat me with some respect!” Chiyo sputtered out as her flame began to wrap around the wood.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the fire demon and found a stool for Sakura to sit on. “It isn’t much I realize, but when Chiyo gets up and going, I’ll be sure to find you something more comfortable to sit on, promise!” Naruto gave a blinding grin to the old witch. Sakura just humphed in response as she sat on the stool, pulling the wet blanket off her.

Naruto checked Gaara and Kiba, ensuring they were alright, before looking outside through the opening that they all had just gotten in through. He could see the bright explosions going off over the town, the swarms of monsters still attacking Sasuke and the blue electrical shocks of lightning coming from Sasuke to ward off the attackers.  _ ‘He doesn’t know we aren’t there! Fuck!’ _ Naruto cursed to himself. He ran back over to Chiyo, falling to his knees so he could look upon her flame face to face. “Chiyo,” he whispered. “I need you to move the castle to Sasuke. I need to help him!”

“But there is no chimney here, the wood is wet and I’m being dripped on,” Chiyo pouted out, her flame flickering slightly on the damp wood. 

Naruto’s eyes saddened and he bit his bottom lip to stop it from trembling. “P-please Chiyo, I know you can do it.” He gave her a sad smile. “You’re one of the most powerful fire demons I’ve ever known,” he softly spoke out. “And you’re beautiful,” he added. “Please Chiyo, please…”

Chiyo popped about and hissed out a long sigh. “Okay okay…” she muttered out. “But I can’t do it alone, I need something from you to make it work.”

“From me? Like what?” Naruto’s eyed the flickering flame questionably. 

“Your eyes would do,” Chiyo sparked out a few crackles as her flames licked at the wood. Naruto released a small gasp. “Oh just think what I could do with your heart! Either or, I would be very powerful!” Chiyo flamed up slightly, showing off her flames. 

Naruto gnawed at his bottom lip. He had no idea that such a request would be needed in order to make this work. But he  _ needed _ to save Sasuke! The wizard was out there battling for  _ him _ , for them! And now they weren’t even where he had left them! If something was to happen to him, Naruto could not even fathom what he would feel.

“Umm...Chiyo, what about some of my hair?” Naruto curled some of his gray hairs around his finger. 

Chiyo eyed the highlighted gray hairs. The blond was beginning to come out more, the more time passed. Chiyo could see how Naruto’s face was slowly becoming its youthful self during this stressful time. She snorted suddenly. “You don’t have nearly enough on your old head!” She scoffed out. “An eye or your heart would be the best option!” 

Naruto’s heart sank. He slumped onto his knees dropping his head, feeling the familiar sting behind his eyes.  _ ‘I won’t cry, I won’t cry,’ _ he chanted to himself. What was he to do? Giving his eyes, he would never see Sasuke again. Giving his heart, he wouldn’t be alive to see Sasuke again.  _ ‘But...Sasuke would be safe--to protect Gaara, Chiyo, Kiba and even Sakura-chan. Our whole family would be safe just for my one small sacrifice.’ _ Naruto trembled feeling his heart clench. He would do it. He would give his heart, to protect his family. To protect Sasuke. And he--he would watch over them--from--from wherever his spirit went. He would make sure of it. Taking a deep shuddering breath, he nodded to himself and stood up before Chiyo.

“I’ll do it. I’ll give you my h-heart. For Sasuke. For the family.” His voice trembled slightly but he kept his chin up and blue eyes firmly fixed on Chiyo. Chiyo’s flame slowly stretched tall, her flaming eyes looking him all over before her eyes focused on his. Naruto could feel the fear threatening to make him change his mind, but he thought about Sasuke, what he has done for him, for them, and how he is now risking his all for him. His chest grew warm and he knew that he had made the right choice.

“No!” The yell broke through the tension and Naruto turned to find Gaara racing towards him and wrapping his arms around his waist. His face burrowed into his stomach and Gaara’s head shook back and forth, the mumbled word  _ no _ chanting out continuously. Naruto stroked the red haired boy’s head that was shaking into him, he smiled sadly before hugging Gaara back.

“It’s okay Gaara,” he whispered out. “It will be alright.” Naruto felt tears escaping his eyes. The pain in his heart grew when Gaara expressed his obvious disagreement with the option of Naruto giving his heart. The small boy continued to squeeze his arms around Naruto, not appearing to let go anytime soon and Naruto let him be for the time being. “Shh now, it will be alright,” Naruto whispered while the boy wept. 

Gaara pulled back suddenly, shocking Naruto to look down at the red rimmed teal eyes. They were swollen from crying and tear tracks were on his face. But Gaara’s eyes were wide as if he had just thought of something. “I have an idea!” Gaara turned on his heel and ran for a pile of rubble, that looked to be what used to be the dining room area. 

“Gaara, what are you--”

“Here! Here it is!” Gaara jumped out of the pile of rubble, holding a large magic book. Naruto recognized it from the many that Gaara would study from. “I just remembered! I read this before -- before all this happened.” Gaara waved one arm to show the demolished house. “It’s part of how I use my spell to make me look old!” Naruto raised a brow at the boy. He hadn’t seen Gaara use his old man spell for sometime now, since he no longer needed to use it as often. 

Gaara dropped to the floor, sitting cross legged, and opened the book across his lap. He fingered through the pages quickly, faster than Naruto had seen any person do but then he figured there was probably magic behind the flipping of the pages and shrugged it off. 

“Right here!” Gaara leaned over to look at the pages. “This spell, could help grow more hair. It’s simple really.”

A raspberry sparking noise came from the makeshift fireplace. “You can’t use that,” Chiyo snapped out. “Using magic to make the hair grow is only making a magic hair that isn’t the actual hair!” 

“Yah yah I get that Chiyo,” Gaara rolled his eyes. “But, the tonic we sell grows hair naturally, and this spell,” Gaara pointed down on the page several times. “Will enhance the tonic to grow the hair faster than normal. Minutes even! And then you still have real hair!” Gaara looked up at Naruto with a smile.

“Could this work? Really Gaara?” Naruto clasped his hands together, wringing them with nervousness.

“The boy’s right,” Sakura spoke up. “You’re going to be a brilliant wizard someday.” Sakura gave Gaara a soft smile. Gaara blushed at the compliment. 

“Let’s get started grandpa Naru!” Gaara exclaimed, making his way towards the piles of rubble to find the ingredients. Naruto’s heart lifted. Could this really work? He busied himself with Gaara, helping him find what he needed.

A short time later, Naruto held a basket full of his hair, made from a small thatch that Gaara cut off. He was surprised to find his hair gray with blond highlights.  _ ‘If this is how my hair looks when I get old, guess it’s not so bad after all. At least I have hair,’ _ he chuckled to himself. Gaara slapped his hands together, dust and ingredients flying about. “All done! How’s that!” He crossed his arms and gave a firm nod towards Naruto. Naruto gave him a grateful smile and rubbed his red locks lovingly.

Standing up, he took the basket of hair to Chiyo, who was still trying to dry the wood around her. “I’m still being dripped on you know,” she hissed out in a sour voice. Her flames crackling loudly at the wetness.

“Here Chiyo, will this suffice?” Naruto placed the basket on the ledge of the fireplace. Chiyo stretched her flame to look into the basket. She let out a huff and settled back down onto the logs. “Hmph, I guess so,” she responded. Naruto squeaked out an ‘ _ eep!’ _ when a flamed arm came shooting out and burned all the hair in the basket in seconds. He barely took a step back before Chiyo exploded into a giant fire, her eyes large and burning red and her mouth wide releasing a howl. 

“Holy shit!” Naruto cursed out as he felt the heat pounding out in waves. He watched in awe as the flamed arms pushed straight up into what was left of the ceiling, her howl turning into a war cry and the small area they were huddled in began to pop out. The walls began to stretch, the floor straightened out and it appeared that the room was turning into a type of atrium. 

“Oh my god Chiyo! You are the best fire demon ever!” Naruto cried out in excitement. He looked around as the room began to form into a makeshift round room and it crashed through the twisted metal and wood that was left over from the larger castle. Naruto looked at a hole that still was in a part of the floor where they originally found their way back in but saw two clawed feet starting to walk! “This is amazing!”

“Imagine what it would have been like if I had your heart!” Chiyo’s deep voice echoed through the room. Her large flame body still pushed about, making the room wider, longer as the feet continued to walk.

“Heart?” Sakura’s eyes perked up.

“I can see Sasuke over there!” Naruto cried out, his fingers pointing to the distance where the fire was still causing a glow in the darkness. “Chiyo! Hurry! We have to get to him! The monsters are attacking him!” Naruto couldn’t keep his eyes off the black swarms continuously circling and diving around the small form. The electrical sparks were starting to get smaller and Naruto knew Sasuke had to be exhausted.

“His heart! His heart! I’ve found it!” Sakura suddenly cried out and tumbled towards Chiyo. “Give it to me! I want it!” Sakura fell towards the large fire.

Naruto’s eyes were wide with shock and fear as he watched Sakura throw herself onto Chiyo, becoming engulfed in flames. “Sakura! No! What are you doing!?” Naruto stumbled his way towards the fireplace. The place suddenly became unstable, like an earthquake was happening and Naruto was being jerked all around.  _ ‘No! What’s happening?’ _ He fell before the fireplace as Sakura pulled away and fell to her knees.

“I have it! His heart! Finally it’s mine!” Sakura cried out happily and she clenched her hands together tightly.

“Oh my god Sakura! You’re on fire!” Naruto panicked as he saw the old witch engulfed in flames.

Sakura’s cries of laughter and excitement suddenly changed to screams. “I’m burning! I’m burning! No!” 

Naruto looked to see that Chiyo was no longer in the fireplace but was in Sakura’s hand! “No no! Sakura! Let Chiyo go! Put her back!” Naruto struggled to get to the old witch, but the small room was rumbling and turning out of control. He reached for Sakura but she turned, hiding what was in her hand. “No please! You’ll die! Put her back Sakura!” Naruto pleaded loudly over the sounds of falling debris around them. 

“No! NO! It’s mine! AHH! I’m burning!” Sakura was screaming and wailing while she hid Chiyo in front of her large body, blocking Naruto from getting to Chiyo.

_ ‘Wha-wha do I do?!’ _ Naruto pulled his hair looking around, his mind in a whirlwind of panic. He ran to the wall, where Gaara and Kiba were clutching each other and somehow holding onto a wall beam, and Naruto grabbed a bucket. Turning fast, he ran towards Sakura and dumped the entire bucket of water over her. 

Dropping the bucket, he breathed out heavily and stood watching Sakura as the flames died down to nothing immediately. He reached for the old witch, whose back was still towards him but the floor began to tremble and Naruto felt his feet slip from beneath him. “Oh my god, Chi--” Naruto’s breath was taken as he felt his body begin to fall with the part of the room that crumbled and fell away into the depths of darkness. 

“Narutooooo!” Gaara cried out, his hand reaching for empty space where Naruto was just standing a second before. He cried out into the darkness as the half room that was still intact, walked away on two wobbly legs.

=x00x00x00x00x00x==

_ He slashed at the shadows, relishing in the sounds of their painful cries. There were more and he gave a feral grin, wanting to taste their blood, feel his claws ripping through their skin, hearing the cries of death.  _

_ A ripple of sadistic pleasure ran through his body each time one cried out in death. His blood pumped fast with each kill, the heat in his core was an addictive drug that he savoured and desired more. The itch to fill the need hammered hard core through his mind... _ **_kill_ ** _... _ **_kill_ ** _.. _ **_yessss_ ** _. He hissed out, shuddering in the shocks of pleasure that erupted through his body. It wasn’t enough, he needed more-- _ **_more!_ **

_ He could feel himself swooping, diving, the air beneath his body, the feeling of freedom. He ground his fangs together when one of the shadows got close. The demon snarled out in excitement, pumped it through his veins when the promise of a kill was upon him.  _ **_Yessss….kill...kill_ ** _. Stretching his talons, he clawed out, a feeling of supreme power rushed through him when his talons ripped into another shadow that cried out in agony. _

_ The whispers continued to echo through his mind -- Blood, more blood...death to those. No one can defeat you. Let them feel your wrath!  _ **_Kill---kill---kill_ ** _! He tucked his wings in, his prey just beneath him, the wind swirled around him as he came up fast, silently, deadly to his next prey… _

**_“--rutooooo”_ **

_ What was that?  _

_“_ ** _NO! --rutooooo”_** _A sob...a cry…_

_ His body shifted in the wind, missing his prey but his eyes scanned the horizon, where the voice carried through. The dark deep voice in his mind screaming at him in the background, but he ignored it.  _

_ Suddenly a light pierced through the darkness that was in his eyes and he squinted, surprised at the sudden intrusion.  _

_...a small sparkling soft light. It’s falling...falling into the darkness… _

_ It’s calling to him, it’s warm, soft and Sasuke flew towards it. _


	9. Chapter 9

_ *Cough* _

_ ‘Ah shit…*cough*’ _

Naruto groaned out, realizing he was waking up in discomfort. It was dark, that much he knew. He was outside for sure, smelling the air he could pick up the grass, mud and moisture in that air. The sounds of explosions were in the distance and his eyes flew open.  _ ‘Sasuke!’ _ Forcing his body to sit up, his head hit wood that was laying over his body. “Ah fuck!” he cried out, rubbing at his head where it connected with the wooden object. He grumbled out while analyzing himself. He discovered that his body wasn’t broken, just aching in several areas. He guessed he probably had some scrapes and bruises, but so far so good. Looking around, he realized he was sitting within piles of broken wood, dishes, screening, you name it. Looking up, he noticed he was in some sort of chasm, carved into the rock. He managed to get up onto his two feet, looking up the steep cliff.

Hearing the explosions go off in the distance, his mind went back to what he saw last. “Oh my god, how--what am I going to do now? Sasuke…” He looked up to the dark sky again, his eyes threatening tears. A small yip brought his eyes downward.

“Kiba? What? How?” The small shaggy dog made his way to Naruto’s side. Naruto fell to his knees and grabbed the small dog, pulling him in for a hug. “H-how did you!? Never mind, I’m so happy to see you!” He rubbed his face on the thick shaggy fur, tears starting to form. “I thought I was done for! And Gaara! Oh my god, Chiyo!” The memories of what happened before he fell came flooding in. The tears wouldn’t stop now, wondering if Chiyo and Gaara were okay, if Sasuke was alright, he couldn’t keep back the emotions anymore. 

“O-Oh my g-god, Kiba, what have I done?!” Naruto wailed out as he rubbed his face into the dog's fur. Kiba whimpered and tried to offer licks of support. “I -- I threw water on Chiyo! What have I done!? What should I do if Sasuke dies because of me!?” His cries and sobs became loud and he threw his hands over his face, dropping Kiba in the process, his body slumping forward as he cried. His shoulders shook as his body released his anguish at the possibility of what could have become of Chiyo and Sasuke. The soft nudging in his back quelled the sobs, and soft hiccups were heard when he finally lifted his face from his hands. Sniffling and wiping his eyes, he looked behind him to see that Kiba was nudging at his back and huffing out at him.

Naruto turned and gave the dog a soft sad smile. “S-sorry Kiba for snotting all over y-you,” he sniffled out, wiping his palms over his cheeks. The small dog yipped out again, pushing his nose into Naruto’s arm. “W-what is it?” Naruto pulled his arm up and blinked several times to see that the ring on his finger, the one Sasuke had given him, was producing a blue beam of light. “T-the ring, is--is Sasuke still alive?” His voice quivered with hope as he held up his hand before his face, staring closely at the blue gem embedded in the gold. “Can you take me to where Sasuke is?” he whispered to the ring. The ring sparkled briefly and a blue glow grew brighter, creating a beam that pointed directly towards a pile of wood that was lying against the rock wall. Getting up to his feet, Naruto moved to the pile, and pushed the pieces a way. 

Stepping back, he took in the site as the moon highlighted the area. It was the magic door from the castle! The beam of light shone brightly straight at the door, seeming to go right through the wood. Kiba yipped at his feet, bringing Naruto’s attention back. Naruto nodded at the small dog and stepped up, turning the handle to open the door.

Beyond the door was blackness, but the beam of light shone straight into it. Naruto gulped loudly. He had seen Sasuke disappear into this darkness, so it had to be a magic place, and he would admit that he was frightened. A yip brought him out of his musings and he watched Kiba slip into the darkness. “Kiba! Wait!” He reached out, his hand hitting the darkness and disappearing. Shocked, he quickly brought his hand back and looked it over. There was nothing wrong with it. He wiggled his fingers briefly before looking up at the darkness again. Biting his lip and taking a deep breath, he stepped forward, and closed his eyes just before moving into the darkness. 

Feeling nothing, Naruto opened his eyes and there was blackness. Looking down at himself, he could see himself clearly, so he wiggled his feet and noticed that he wasn’t standing on anything, just floating! Holding his arms out at the sudden feeling of losing his balance, he saw Kiba far ahead of him. “Kiba!” Naruto waved, noticing that the ring’s blue beam of light was shining in the direction that Kiba was walking.

_ 'See you are a natural at this’ _ Sasuke’s voice boomed through his ears as he remembered when he and Sasuke first met, walking through the air like they were going for a stroll in the park. 

Naruto pinched his lips with determination and began walking, as if he was on the ground, looking straight ahead, his eyes seeing Kiba in the distance and he followed the bright blue beam coming from the ring. 

What seemed like minutes, Naruto saw a blur of colour coming into view in the distance. The light continued to shine in that direction as well as Kiba still walking forward. Since the ring pointed the way and Kiba still went dutily forward, Naruto felt no fear and he quickened his pace towards the colour. As he got closer, it looked to be a portal opening into another world. When he got closer he could see the fields of speckled colours, and he knew instantly where he was.

“This is Sasuke’s special place,” he breathed out. Stepping into the flowing grass, filled with colourful flowers and blue eyes looked about the area. The sky was dark and spotted with thousands of stars twinkling and winking beautifully. Naruto’s breath hitched when shooting stars began to flow across the sky. “Amazing…” he whispered to himself. Watching as some shooting stars fell to the earth, he saw the small cottage with the water wheel lazily turning light up when a star hit the earth. “The cottage!” He picked up his feet and ran for it.  _ ‘Maybe Sasuke is here!’ _ he thought with hope.

Opening the door, Naruto peeked inside. Nestled inside was a small seating area by a fireplace and on the other end of the room was a desk and chair. Walking to the desk, Naruto saw fountain pens, laid nicely in the indent of the desk. A couple closed notebooks stacked together and a small statue of a sailing ship. Beside the small ship, Naruto recognized a couple science books, like the ones he used to see kids carrying when going to school. He ran his fingers gently across the books, appreciating the smooth covers. The desk was facing a window that looked out over the fields and to the small stream that the water wheel turned in. Moving towards the window, Naruto could see the falling star trails causing a glow over the fields when they zipped by. 

A sudden stinging sensation in his hand caused him to flinch at the discomfort and he looked to see that the ring Sasuke had given him was vibrating rapidly.  _ ‘What the …’  _ he wondered to himself as he held his hand up to look closer at the ring. The blue gem glowed brightly and the gold was starting to feel warm.  _ ‘Why is it suddenly--’ _ His thought was cut off when movement in his peripheral vision had him look through the window to the other side of the stream. He squinted to see a small person with dark hair. “Sasuke?” he said aloud. He quickly ran out the door and stood at the edge of the small deck that was attached to the side of the house. 

Naruto squinted at the small form, walking through the tall grass that reached the boy’s hips. The lights from the falling stars caused the black hair to reflect the blue highlights in the strands and Naruto could see the way the back of his hair flared out. “Sasuke!” Naruto cried out, but the boy continued to walk in the opposite direction.  _ ‘I have to be in the past! In Sasuke’s childhood!’ _ Naruto hopped off the deck and began to run through the tall grass, following the stream. He silently hoped there was a bridge up ahead that he could cross the stream, and get to little Sasuke quickly! “Sasuke! Wait!” Naruto called again, but still the boy walked without looking back, looking like a dream with falling stars around him.

A star fell close to Naruto, causing him to yelp out in surprise.  _ ‘Holy shit that was close!’ _ Naruto looked up at the continuous stream of lights from the stars. Seeing them up close, he could see the different colours in the tails of lights and his mouth dropped open in awe. Blue sparkling eyes followed a star’s path and he watched as it fell towards the stream. Surprise had him stumbling slightly backwards as the star hit the surface of the water, but the ball of light changed into a small two legged glowing bright creature that ran across the surface quickly. It looked like a silhouette of a human, running across the crystal clear waters. It wasn’t to be though, as the small creature sank into the water and dissolved into nothing.

Suddenrealization knocked the breath out of him causing him to stumble again and he lifted his clenched fist to his chest. Clenching his teeth and taking a deep breath, Naruto looked about to see where little Sasuke had gone.He was still walking across the far field, away from Naruto.

“Sasuke!” Naruto called again, waving his arm frantically when the boy stopped and tilted his head to the side.  _ ‘He heard me!’ _ “Sasuke wait!” he called again. Little Sasuke turned slightly but then bent over and looked to be picking something up from the tall grass. When he stood back up, Naruto could see that little Sasuke had a glowing object in his hands. 

Naruto was frozen as he watched little Sasuke’s lips move, as he appeared to be talking to the glowing object in his hands. He continued to observe when suddenly little Sasuke lifted his hands to his lips, opening his mouth wide and shoved the glowing object into his mouth. Naruto’s hands went to his mouth to cover his scream, his mind shocked at what he was watching. He moved forward slowly when little Sasuke doubled over, his face scrunching up in pain. Naruto felt the sting from the ring on his hand again, but he ignored it.

“No! Sasuke!” Naruto cried out, moving forward to get to him. He almost fell forward when his feet refused to move.  _ ‘What the hell?’ _ Naruto struggled to pull his one foot up and found that it was stuck in ankle deep mud. Shifting his body to get more power to his leg, he grunted out as when his leg finally came free of the mud. Stepping out, he pulled at his other leg, grunting out to get his other foot free. Tripping forward, he found his footing again before looking up and seeing that little Sasuke appeared to be getting sick. His small hands covered his small mouth and Naruto could see how little Sasuke’s body was clearly throwing up. The situation didn’t last long, and Naruto watched as a glowing red ember fell from Sasuke’s mouth into his waiting hands.

“Sasuke!” Naruto cried out again trying to get his attention. A loud pop and snap echoed through the air and Naruto screeched as the ground beneath him turned into a wide round black sinkhole. “ACK! NO!” he called out and looked down, surprised to find his body was floating above the hole. His arms flapped about when he felt his body starting to be pulled down into the sinkhole.  _ ‘No no no no no! Not yet!’ _ “Sasuke! Over here!” he screamed out, flapping his arms about. “Chiyo! Sasuke!” Naruto frantically called out, trying to keep his body afloat. He almost cried when he saw little Sasuke look towards him and the small eyes of the red ember look the same way. “Sasuke! Chiyo! It’s me! Naruto!” Naruto waved his arms harder as his body kept sinking down. “I know how to break it! I can free you both!” His body was now lower than the long field grass, but he could still see little Sasuke and Chiyo looking directly at him. “Find me in the future!” he called out again before his body was sucked into the black abysse. 

Naruto found himself floating in darkness. Round drops of water floated around his head and he realized that they were his tears. He wiped his eyes, sniffling in the process, his emotions suddenly overwhelming him. A yip caught his attention at his feet and he saw Kiba floating along with him, his big round brown eyes staring at him intently. Naruto wiped his eyes absently again, “thank you Kiba.” The shaggy dog tilted his head and raised his ears towards Naruto, as if asking him what for. “Thanks for being with me.” Naruto reached out and scratched the dogs head. “You’re a good friend.” Kiba wagged his tail, gave a short bark, then turned around and began walking through the air.

Naruto started walking after Kiba, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands, pushing the tears away. He noticed that the ring was gone from his finger and he vaguely recalled hearing a pop and snap before he fell into the hole.  _ ‘The ring...must have used all its power,’ _ he thought to himself between sniffles. 

The door opening came into view, Kiba trotted towards it and looked briefly over his shoulder to see if Naruto was still behind him. Naruto gave the shaggy pup a smile and followed him through the magic door opening. He was back where he started but now the sun was rising. Hearing a swooping noise, Naruto turned to watch the door suck into itself and disappear completely. The rustling noise of something on the wind and thump of something landing on the ground had him turn his attention around to see a massive black feathered creature. It’s wings settled to the side of the body, heavy deep breathing blew a breeze causing Naruto’s hair to whip around his face. 

“Oh Sasuke,” Naruto breathed out in relief, seeing the raven safe and sound. He took soft steps towards the large creature, tilting his head to try and see a face. He could hear Sasuke breathing deeply and he reached out to stroke the feathers. “Sasuke--I’m so--so sorry,” Naruto whispered out, his voice cracking as he tried to hold back the tears. Sasuke was safe, alive and here. He pushed the feathers out of the way to find Sasuke’s face, surprised to find the beautiful marble smooth skinned but his eyes were dark gray and void, staring straight ahead. Sasuke’s face was still present, which meant that Sasuke’s mind was still in there, somewhere, instead of the inner demon that Orochimaru went on about.

Naruto felt the pang of guilt streak through his heart when he reached up to cup Sasuke’s cheek. “I’m sorry to worry you, p-please forgive me,” Naruto hiccuped out, placing both hands on each of Sasuke’s cheeks now, his blue eyes searching the voided gray eyes. Sasuke’s face was surrounded by long feathers instead of his silky black hair. The same way he was when Sasuke was trapped in Orochimaru’s spell. 

Sasuke didn’t move, didn’t speak, his eyes continued to stare at nothing and Naruto stood on his tiptoes to reach his lips to kiss Sasuke’s still ones. Tears escaped when he felt no response from the wizard. His shoulders slumped in defeat and he pressed his forehead to Sasuke’s feathered chest, his hands clenching fistfuls of feathers. “Can you take me to Chiyo, please?” A huffed breath was the response and Naruto just knew that was a yes. Naruto stepped onto Sasuke’s large talon feet, wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s thick leg and squeezed. Kiba barked and wrapped himself around Naruto’s legs. 

Massive wings stretched out, began to beat up and down, creating whirl winds to circle in the chasm, causing the broken pieces of wooden debris to fly about. The beating wing sounds shook like thunder off the rock walls as the giant began to lift off. Naruto squeezed Sasuke’s leg tight, the air whipping his hair about his face, the gravity making his stomach feel nauseous but he felt completely safe. Rubbing his face into the feathered leg, Naruto let the softness of the feathers tickle his nose and watched the ground zoom by.

A wooden platform wobbled about on two long thin metal legs. Each leg had a foot with three toed talons, that made its way along a mountain ridge, with two bodies huddled together on the platform. Naruto gasped when he saw a small moving platform. “There they are Sasuke! Look look!” he called out enthusiastically. The winged body adjusted slightly as it began its descent towards the wooden platform. 

The wings adjusted, catching the wind and Naruto could feel Sasuke slowing down. With a few flutters of the massive wings, his body slowly landed gracefully onto the moving platform. Naruto stumbled slightly when Sasuke landed, but held onto his leg firmly. A sudden deafening noise caused by a flutter of feathers caused him to squint his eyes shut as a funnel wind carried the black feathers away and up into nothing. Naruto’s hands covered the yelp coming from his mouth when Sasuke’s body materialized from beneath the mass of feathers. His body laid still, silent and Naruto couldn’t breath. He quickly fell to Sasuke’s side, placing his hands on Sasuke’s cheek, to find that Sasuke was breathing at least. 

“Naruto? Is that you?” a voice broke through Naruto’s thoughts.

Naruto turned to see Gaara, looking at both of them with concern etched into his eyes. He nodded at Gaara with a sad smile.

“You aren’t, umm...old anymore.” Gaara bit his bottom lip. He appeared nervous. 

Naruto blinked and then looked at his hands. Tanned youthful skin shines back at him. He pulls his hair as far as he can and catches the light blond locks. He sits up straight, noting that he isn’t hunched over anymore. “Huh, would you look at that,” he whispers to himself while still turning his head looking about his body.

“Is he dead?” Gaara asks, breaking Naruto from his thoughts. Gaara nudges his chin towards the unconscious wizard on the platform.

Naruto shook his head, “no, he isn’t. He’ll be fine.”  _ ‘I hope,’  _ Naruto added to himself. He gave the worried Gaara a soft smile before getting up and looking over to see Sakura huddled near the edge of the platform.

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto softly called out, looking right at her green eyes. “I need that back.”

The old witch opened her green eyes wide, fluttering her lashes. “What? I don’t have anything.” She clenched her hands closer to her chest and shook her head back and forth. “Nuh uh, nothing here.” 

Naruto smiled sadly. “Sakura-chan, please.” Naruto stepped towards the old witch and dropped to his knees before her. His blue eyes watered as he looked upon the old witch who continued to shake her head and look anywhere else. Naruto fell forward and hugged Sakura tight. “Please granny Sakura, I know you will do the right thing.” 

Sakura froze in the embrace before releasing a deep breath. “You--you really need this hm?” she breathed out into the sunshine blond hair. 

“Yes, yes please,” Naruto responded, his arms still holding the old witch.

“Alright,” she huffed out. “But, you’ll keep it safe ne?” Sakura questioned when Naruto pulled back, wiping the tears from his eyes. 

Naruto looked at the green eyes, that showed sadness yet she still gave Naruto a smile. “Yes, I promise I’ll keep it safe. Thank you granny, thank you.” Naruto wiped his eyes again while he stood up. He held his hands out and Sakura hesitated, looking into her fingers for a brief moment before handing over the small red burning lump and gently placing it in Naruto’s hands.

_ ‘Oh wow, warm,’ _ Naruto thought to himself as he looked upon the small glowing ember. Two tired looking round eyes opened up and stared straight up at him. “Oh Chiyo,” Naruto sighed out relieved. 

“Nar--Naruto, so--I’m so tired.” Naruto barely heard the small flame’s voice.

Naruto walked over to where Sasuke lay, dropping to his knees and looking at the soft features of Sasuke’s face. The wind blew around the black locks softly as the wooden platform still walked awkwardly along the mountain top. “Chiyo?” Naruto whispered, while staring down at the wizard. “If he gets his heart back -- will you… disappear?” Naruto turned to look at the small ember in his hands.

“I don’t know,” was the reply and Naruto felt the sting behind his eyes. “It’ll be okay Naruto,” Chiyo softly whispered out quickly. “After all, you drenched me in water and we both are still alive. Has to mean something right?” 

Naruto chuckled out a sob. She was right. “You’re so warm Chiyo. You flutter like a small bird in my hand.” 

“I’m but the heart of a small child,” Chiyo breathed out, sounding exhausted.

Naruto brought Chiyo up to his lips, giving the small burning ember a light kiss. “I wish for you to live a thousand years dear Chiyo. And that Sasuke will get his heart and spirit returned.” Naruto whispered out the wish, tears escaping his eyes as he placed the glowing ember on Sasuke’s chest. Turning his hand slowly, he pushed his palms gently on the glowing ember, pushing it into Sasukes’s chest. “Please let this work,” he sniffled out. When the ember disappeared, Naruto leaned back on his knees, and held his breath.

A coloured beam of light shot from Sasuke’s chest, causing Naruto to gasp out. “I’m free!” a voice cried out and echoed through the hills. “Yes yes YES!” the voice called out and Naruto watched the coloured beam of light shoot through the sky and disappear. 

Naruto smiled slightly when he saw the coloured beam disappear. “Good luck Chiyo…” he sadly whispered out into the wind. The wind tossed about his sunshine gold hair, the sun's rays creating a cinnamon glow to Naruto’s skin. The young man remained sitting, his crystal blue eyes never leaving the wizards side as the wobbly platform suddenly stumbled and crumbled beneath them.  _ ‘Oh no, Chiyo’s gone and--’ _ Naruto didn’t have time to finish that thought.

The platform became a sled as it took off down the steep mountain slope with no legs for support, the four occupants at the mercy of the mountain. Naruto fell upon Sasuke, his arms grasping the raven haired wizard tight to his body. He closed his eyes tight, praying for a miracle while the panicked screams filled his ears.  _ ‘Gaara! Sakura! NO! Someone please save them!’  _ His heart thumped painfully in fear that this was the end and he let his tears flow.

The whooshing and whipping of a branch sounded before the smell of wood burning. Cracking and scraping sounds filled the air and Naruto opened his eyes a crack, though he knew they were still falling, but it seemed they were dragging something more.

“Oh my god **pumpkinhead** !” Naruto cried out with fear. What he saw was the faithful scarecrow, its powerful long branch, that held his sturdy form, was being sliced away by the force of the wooden platform pushing it against the rock. Pumpkinhead stood tall, his form leaning back against the sliding platform, struggling to slow it down but the rock was not kind as it burned and ripped at his wooden branch. Naruto felt helpless, while clutching Sasuke, Gaara and Sakura held on to each other, while gripping Naruto’s pant leg. He bit back a sob, watching as the friendly scarecrow began to lose against the force while trying to save them.

Suddenly it was quiet. The noise of wood on stone stopped suddenly, the cries from Gaara and Sakura suddenly ceased as well. Naruto opened his eyes, not knowing when he had closed them. His face was pushed against Sasuke’s chest, his fingers were aching and white from the grip he had on Sasuke’s shirt. His eyes burned from the tears he shed. Blinking rapidly, he lifted his head to assess the situation. Was he dead? Was he still in the world he had last seen? Where was everyone? His blue eyes found a devastating site.

“Oh no pumpkinhead!” he sobbed out and moved towards the shattered pieces of scarecrow. He grabbed the pumpkin, which still had a stub of a branch and cradled it in his arms. Miraculously the head didn't smash into a pulp. “You saved us! You really did,” Naruto cried out, not knowing if he was crying or laughing. The wooden platform, what was left of it, was wedged between the rock face and several large boulders. Naruto saw Gaara and Sakura were alright, even Sasuke who still lay quietly behind him. He sniffled out and his arms shook, “thank you pumpkinhead, for being so brave.” Naruto brought the pumpkin up and kissed the bright orange fruit.

The snap from the fruit shocked Naruto that he fell backwards and yelped. The pumpkin started gleaming and spinning in the air that had Naruto lifting his arms to shield his face from the beams of bright lights. ‘ _ Shit! Now what!? Why can’t we just be--’ _

The noises stopped after a suspicious  _ POOF _ echoed through Naruto’s ears. He peeked around his arms to see a man. A man that stood tall and proud, with broad shoulders that were very visible beneath a gleaming black sharp expensive looking overcoat. Beneath the coat, a white scarfe puffed out at his neck, tucked beneath the buttoned up coat. Naruto followed the buttons down to notice brown sharp slacks and pointed brown leather shoes. Looking back up the impressive body, a mask covering the nose and lips of the face, but Naruto was certain he could see the outline of a smile. Two big round dark brown eyes glistened with moisture and happiness was staring right down at him.

“Who--”

“Thank you dear Naruto for freeing me from my curse,” the man answered happily and gave a bow. 

At that moment, a long groan erupted behind Naruto suddenly and Naruto turned to see that Sasuke was now waking up. “Sasuke! You're alright!” Naruto cried out, his voice cracking, burrowing his nose and face into Sasuke’s shirt, ignoring the man that had just appeared before him.

“Ohhh, nngh, Naru?” Sasuke coughed out, squinting his eyes, moving his hands around Naruto’s body. “W-where are we?” He moved his head slightly to look around.

Naruto sniffled into the shirt before sitting back up. He ran his fingers through the black hair, his blue eyes wet with tears but giving Sasuke a soft smile. “You’re okay, I--I was so worried.” He wiped his eyes with his other hand. “There was just so--so much to tell--and--and--” Naruto stuttered out.

“Ugh, m-my chest. It feels like there is a weight on my chest,” Sasuke grunted out, his jaw tight and placing his hand on his chest. His eyes then fell upon blond hair. “Naruto? You--you’re hair, face… so beautiful,” he managed to speak out. “Your hair, it reminds me of strands of gold.” He reached out his hand to run his fingers through the golden locks. Naruto wiped his tears again and leaned into the touch. 

“Eh hum,” a voice cleared through the touching silence. Naruto turned to look at the silver haired man with kind brown eyes. 

“Oh! Pumpkin head! What--” Naruto gazed upon the handsome man again, taking in his masked covered face and hair. 

“Thank you for saving me Naruto. I was trapped in a curse that the only way I could be freed was a kiss from someone I love.” Naruto blushed immediately after the declaration from the scarecrow. “My name is Kakashi and I am the prince from the neighboring kingdom.”

“I’ve heard of that curse! The curse that only a kiss from true love can break!” Sakura chimed in. The silver haired scarecrow turned to smile at the old lady, causing Sakura to flutter her eyelashes at him in return. “What a handsome man you are,” she purred out. 

Naruto then turned around to look at Sasuke again, his arms pulling Sasuke in for a hug. Sasuke pulled the blond in for a return hug. “Sasuke, I thought I lost you,” Naruto whispered out into Sasuke’s neck. “I--I love you Sasuke.”

Sasuke pulled back from the blond’s arms, his dark mysterious eyes holding sky blue steady. Cupping said blond’s cheek, Naruto’s eyes fluttered closed while leaning into the touch. “You saved me, and Chiyo, thank you,” Sasuke leaned in and softly placed his lips on Naruto’s warm peach ones for a soft kiss. 

Naruto sighed heavily and relaxed into the kiss, his lips tingling from the warmth of Sasuke. When Sasuke’s tongue poked through his lips, he gasped at the intrusion then relaxed, allowing Sasuke to explore his cavern. Though he wasn’t experienced with kissing, his lips melded perfectly and moved in sequence with the soft loving dance with the wizard. A warm shiver went through his body, causing pleasing goosebumps and Naruto pushed harder into the kiss.

“Hey, what the heck! Naru--” Gaara called out when moving towards Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura cut him off by grabbing him and pulling him away from the two lovers. Gaara squirmed under her hold, cursing under his breath about stupid kissing and bully witches.

“Looks like the one you love is in love with someone else,” Sakura chuckled out while patting the squirming Gaara on the head. “You should head back to your king, tell him to stop this war.” Sakura nodded at the scarecrow. 

Kakashi nodded at the old witch before glancing longfully at Naruto. “Yes, yes I will do that,” he sighed out. “But after the war is over, I’ll definitely come back to visit Naruto again.” He gave another longing glance at Naruto before turning back to the flirty witch who kept winking and fluttering her eyelashes at him.

A flash of coloured lights zipped and circled around the group of people suddenly, making numerous circles around them all. Gaara’s eyes widened at the site, Sakura hummed as her eyes watched and Kakashi stood as his head turned to try and follow the bright zooming light. The bounding light then began circling around Naruto and Sasuke, still locked in a soft kiss, until the circles of light began to pull the blond and black hair straight up, like a small hurricane of wind. 

Naruto pulled back from Sasuke’s lips, a blush painted across his cheeks and his blue eyes looked up. “Chiyo!! You’re okay!” Naruto smiled and held his two hands up as the ball of coloured light settled onto his outstretched hands. 

“I got lonely,” Chiya pouted out as she gave Naruto a kiss when he bent forward to give her one. “And it might rain soon.” 

Naruto just grinned and hugged the small star into his chest. “I’m glad you’re alright Chiyo.” 

Elsewhere…

“Where have you been!” Orochimaru grumbled into a crystal ball that hovered before him. In the glass ball was the face of Kiba, his tongue hanging from the side of his muzzle, his eyes sparkling in delight and he gave a yip. The shaggy dog jumped back and Orochimaru leaned in closer to the glass ball, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Well, it seems Sasuke has found true love after all,” he sighed out. Leaning back in his chair, he watched as Kiba yipped a few more times before heading back to the couple, who were leaning into each other, smiling and talking to a silver haired man. The vision began to go black and the glass orb began to disappear.

Orochimauro’s lip twitched up slightly into a smile. “My lord?” came a voice that broke his thoughts. Orochimaru looked to the boy who was pushing up his glasses on his nose. 

“Well Kabuto-kun, it looks like it is time for this war to be over.” He let out a relieved sounding sigh. “Call the king and his counsel, it’s time for me to meet with them.” He ran a hand through his long dark hair. “And bring me some tea.” He leaned his head on his palm and let a small smile escape his lips as the boy bowed and turned to walk away. “The game is over,” he whispered out. “Thank goodness...I  _ was  _ getting rather bored of this.” 

Epilogue

The wind tousled the shoulder length golden hair and cinnamon coloured skin glowed in the sun beams. A smile was on the peach coloured lips and eyes were closed while the wind danced around his face. His hands gripped the metal bars of the railing as he leaned slightly forward into the sun and wind.

Red lips appeared and lightly left soft kisses on his neck, and Naruto hummed out happily while tilting his neck to the side, allowing those lips more access. Pale long slender fingers traced around his midsection and clasped together, holding the blond in a grasp against another body. 

“Are you alright love?” the soft baritone voice hummed out in Naruto’s ear, still leaving feather kisses on various patches of skin.

“Hmm…” Naruto hummed out in content. “Just taking in the weather and the view. It’s breathtaking out here.” He opened his eyes and looked over the railing. 

It had been six months since the curse was officially broken. Four months since the wars were officially over and two months since the proculation that witches and wizards were not to be considered tools of kings, or anyone else for that matter. So many inspiring witches and wizards lost their lives because of the war, meaning that any information they may have had regarding life saving potions, spells, for human, beast and environment, would be lost forever. Precious persons were lost, precious ideas were lost and some of those persons had family. A lesson was learned here, and many more lessons were slowly being brought to light.

Naruto looked down to the land far below. The land was spotted in colours of green that were the forests and flower fields, blue was the lakes and ponds and golden yellow were the farmer fields. Every so often, a cloud would float just below them, blocking the view, but the fluffy cloud was a masterful piece to gaze upon as well. The site of the land far below always took his breath away from the beauty no matter how many times he looked down. He inhaled a deep breath, enjoying the many scents of the air before standing straight back up and turning around in the arms that were still wrapped around him.

Naruto gave a seductive smile at the black pools that looked into his own blue eyes. He fluttered his eyelashes a few times before puckering up his peach lips and giving those soft red ones a light kiss. Laying his hands upon Sasuke’s shoulders, he purred out when Sasuke’s lips responded and deepened the kiss. Naruto’s heart fluttered against his chest, when Sasuke’s hands pulled his body close to his own. 

Naruto broke the kiss first, panting lightly and feeling the heat flushed on his cheeks. The black pools were now looking back at him with slight concern. “Are you sure you’re okay?” 

Naruto winked at the raven before giving a quick peck on the red lips. “We are just fine,” he smiled and placed his own hand upon Sasuke’s, which had settled onto Naruto’s subtle swollen stomach. 

Sasuke rubbed small circles on Naruto’s small stomach bulge and gave the blond a kiss on his forehead. “Don’t want you getting cold now.” He smiled as he turned them both towards the castle. 

Naruto looked across the small area of green, a small park-like area, that even had green grass and was surrounded by a sturdy railing. At the far end was a small table with four chairs, big enough for an afternoon tea and treats. Currently Sakura-chan was sitting at the table, watching Gaara roll around on the grass with the shaggy brown dog Kiba. Once in a while Naruto would hear Sakura giggle out and call out to Gaara on how to take care of a dog or to quit rough housing so much. 

With his hand gently placed on the small of Naruto’s back, Sasuke guided Naruto across the grass, towards the entrance of the castle where two large doors were currently wide open and Sasuke could see Chiyo’s flames crackling happily while she sat in a rebuilt fireplace. It was situated right where she could see everyone no matter where they were on the main floor or out on the park patio. 

“There is a storm in the south Chiyo, you may want to adjust your flight path a bit so we can avoid it.” Sasuke nodded at Chiyo as he and Naruto walked by. 

“What do you think I am? A slave?” Chiyo barked out, but it had no bite. And Sasuke just chuckled out softly. 

“Thank you Chiyo. You still have the most amazing spark I’ve ever seen,” Naruto called out. He knew that Chiyo was crackling and sparking up in excitement from his words, that left him smiling. 

Little children gasped and would point into the air. Women would hold their hats when they squinted up into the sky, eyes scanning the horizon. Men would whisper in approval and nod at the moving clouds. The stories were always the same and every so often, the sunlight would shine through the clouds and if you were lucky enough, you would get to see a glimpse of a marvelous sight. An elegant and graceful flying castle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...did everyone have as much fun as I did with this story being made into a Naruto & Sasuke land? I know I sure did! 
> 
> If you didn't like it, meh, that's okay too. I added a little in the epilogue yes, but if I had my way, the ending of Howl's wouldn't have been that way, there would have been SO MUCH more ya know?! I did consider making this a little more expanded but then thought, mah... I do have another amazing wip to get going on. Hehehe
> 
> Thanks for any reviews, I do read and respond, if anyone notices. :D

**Author's Note:**

> So I thought I post this first bit as a test. After I got to about 12K words, I began to think, what the hell am I doing? I'm second guessing my idea I guess. I wonder what the readers will think?


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